What if?
by EmUntitled
Summary: What if Peeta isn't reaped for the 74th Hunger Games. Can Katniss still survive the Games? What will be the consequences for those she leaves behind? Various POVs mostly Peeta and Gale, but this is not a PeetaxGale romance!
1. Chapter 1

_1: The Day Before the Reaping _

_Peeta_

I sit on the end of one of the long, wooden benches in the school hall. We rarely have whole school assemblies but, as the Reaping is tomorrow, it is customary for the teachers to gather us all together in the dingy hall to be addressed by the Principal. Our school isn't large – our District being one of the smallest – yet there is only just enough space to cram us all in here, sat shoulder-to-shoulder on these uncomfortable benches.

I look around, thinking about the fact that two of the children sitting in this crowded room won't be here next week. Odds are, they won't be here next month, next year or ever again. I wonder who it will be this year…

I inwardly make a wish that it won't be my older brother. It's his last year of being eligible for Reaping; he'll soon be free. I hope that it won't be any of the little ones, the twelve or thirteen year olds. Of course, I also wish that it won't be me – selfish as that may be. Most of all, I hope that it isn't Katniss.

As soon as I think of Katniss, my eyes automatically begin to scan the room trying to find her. It doesn't take long to spot her sat slightly over to my left and two rows in front of me, next to the Mayor's daughter who is, as far as I can tell, her only friend at school.

From this angle I can see her jaw and the curve of her neck, the ever-present braid that winds down her back and the short wisps of hair behind her ears which aren't long enough to be part of the braid. She's always been beautiful to me but in the last few months, since she turned sixteen, I find myself drawn to her even more.

The Principal begins his speech. It is short, not nearly as long as the Mayor's speech will be tomorrow, but I find myself ignoring every word as all my attention is on Katniss. She, similarly, does not seem to be riveted by the speech, her lips slightly pursed in thought and her cheek resting on her hand. I can't help but wish that it was my hand, not hers, against her cheek.

All too soon, I am snapped out of my Katniss-induced trace by a lacklustre round of applause from the other students as the Principal finishes his speech. I didn't hear a word of it, but I've heard it all before anyway. I was fixated on the beautiful girl two rows in front throughout the whole speech, and have decided that it is about time I did something about my feelings.

Today is not the day. She'll be upset before the Reaping tomorrow. But tomorrow after the Reaping will be perfect. I _am _going to talk to her tomorrow. I _am _going to tell her how I feel, for better or for worse.

_A/N: Just a short introductory chapter, a prologue perhaps. Other chapters will be longer! Reviews are very much appreciated!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Gale_

I stand in the roped-off area at the front with the other eighteen-year-olds from District 12 as the Mayor reads the history of Panem. Strangely, I've got a good feeling about today. Well, as good a feeling as you can have when two innocent children are about to be snatched from the town and sent to their deaths. But, good things have been happening all day.

For a start, the weather has been gorgeous with sunny blue skies. The baker gave me a whole loaf of bread this morning and Prim supplied Katniss with some goat's cheese, so the two of us had a delicious lunch of bread, cheese and berries. We did well fishing, catching a dozen decent fish – enough for both our families – and managed to pluck plenty of strawberries too.

My name is in the big glass bowl forty-two times today, probably more than anyone else here, but I'm not as worried as perhaps I should be. There are so many names in that bowl and even if I were Reaped, I think I'd have a decent chance in that arena. If I won the Games, our families would never be hungry again. Plus, it's my last Reaping – after today, I don't have to worry about being chosen as a tribute. Of course, I will still have to worry about Rory, Katniss, Prim and, in a few years, Vick and Posy.

Effie Trinket makes her way to the front of the stage and announces "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be _ever _in your favour!"

This reminds me of the impressions of Effie which Katniss and I laughed at this morning, so I turn round to catch her eye in the sixteen-year-old section behind. I give her a half-smile, but her face looks so worried and serious that it makes me feel scared for her, and I turn back.

I hold my breath as Effie dips her perfectly manicured hand into the bowl and picks out a name.

"Primrose Everdeen"

….

There goes my good feeling.

_Peeta_

"Primrose Everdeen"

I feel my heart jump for joy for a fraction of a second when it isn't Katniss' name drawn from the bowl. Almost instantaneously I realise my mistake. Primrose. Primrose _Everdeen_. Katniss' sister. Primrose is only twelve years old and small for her age.

I hear Katniss' anguished cries as Primrose shuffles towards the stage with tiny steps. Then I hear the only thing which could now make this day worse:

"I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!"

_Gale_

As soon as I register that Prim's name had been drawn, I know that Katniss will volunteer. That's just who she is, she's strong and brave and she loves her sister more than anything. I know there's nothing I can say or do, that will stop her from sacrificing herself for Prim.

Prim has her arms around Katniss, screaming and refusing to let her go. I force my way through the crowd of eighteen-year-olds and pull Prim away from her, knowing that it is now my responsibility to care for both our families.

"Up you go, Catnip" I say, tears pricking the back of my eyes and my voice nearly breaking as I use her nickname. My nickname for her.

I carry a hysterically sobbing Prim to her Mother and resume my place in the eighteen-year-old section. Nobody applauds when Katniss is introduced as the District Twelve tribute. She rarely cries but I know her better than anyone and I know that she almost breaks down when the District salutes her with three fingers. When Haymitch stumbles off the stage, I see her sob once, just once, before she regains her composure, just in time for the drawing of the boy's name.

A thought briefly crosses my mind that I could volunteer. I could protect her, save her. We could spend our final days together. If I had to choose someone to spend my last moments with, it would be her. But I can't volunteer. She'd never forgive me for leaving behind my family and hers.

Effie sticks her hand into the glass bowl containing the boys' slips, forty-two of which say "Gale Hawthorne" on them. She picks one out and I hold my breath as she reads the name.

_Peeta_

"Steffan Tandem!"

Steffi Tandem is a thirteen year old from the Seam. He's scrawny and skinny with dark hair and he looks absolutely terrified as he approaches the stage. I turn around to the audience and see a woman, presumably his Mother, crying. She is holding a baby and has at least three other small children around her – Steffi probably has more slips in the bowl than I, despite being three years younger.

It occurs to me that I ought to volunteer.

I should stick my hand in the air and be brave, just like Katniss.

I should walk to the stage and take my place beside the girl I love.

I should go in to the arena and protect her with my life.

But I can't do it. I'm a coward and I don't deserve her.

_Gale_

I escort Prim and Mrs Everdeen into the Justice Building and pace up and down outside the door, waiting for my turn to see Katniss. I have no idea what I will say to her, so when Madge arrives hoping to see Katniss too, I let her go in first.

When it's finally my turn, I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight. We talk about strategies, about how she can find or make a bow and arrow. I reassure her that she has a chance: she can hunt and she can climb. I almost start to believe it myself, that she could make it back alive.

We have so little time and before I know it, the Peacekeepers are taking me away. She grabs my hand and begs me to look after Prim and her Mother, though she knows I will. As they drag me out the door, I remember something vitally important that I wanted to tell her, that I almost forgot to say –

"Katniss, remember I love you!"

The door between us slams and I'll never know whether she heard what I said.

_A/N: I know it's cheesy that Gale said "I love you", but I can't think of any other words that could end that sentence… I'm pretty sure we all think that's what he wanted to say, but if you have any other suggestions I'd love to hear them!_


	3. Chapter 3

_3: Chariot Rides_

_Peeta_

It's been two days since Katniss was Reaped. According to the television, the tributes arrived in the Capitol this morning and are currently being prepared for the opening ceremony, which takes place tonight.

For the hundredth time since the Reaping, I berate myself for never telling her my feelings, for not volunteering and for not going to visit her in the Justice Building. Although, to be honest, I don't know what I would've said to her in the Justice Building - I probably would've just made an idiot of myself with some garbled version of "Hi Katniss, I'm Peeta. Sorry about the Games - good luck! By the way, I've been in love with you since we were five. Bye!"

So maybe not visiting was the right decision.

I think my family are starting to catch on that something is not right with me. In their eyes I should be happy that I wasn't chosen and nor were any of my friends or family, just two Seam kids. My Mum shouts at me for burning a loaf of bread while my mind was elsewhere – this just reminds me of that awful day when I deliberately burned the bread to give to Katniss. My Dad tries to cheer me up by sharing some roasted squirrel which he traded with the Hawthorne boy – this just makes me think of Katniss and her skill with a bow and arrow. My brother celebrates that he will be nineteen next year and not eligible for Reaping – this just makes me realise that Katniss will probably not be here next year.

I don't think I can stand this much longer.

_Gale_

The last two days have been hard; emotionally hard, of course, but also physically as hunting on my own is more difficult than I had anticipated.

I've been simultaneously looking forward to and dreading this evening, when the opening ceremony will take place. I am looking forward to seeing Katniss again, seeing that she is okay and in one piece. I am dreading to see how she has been changed by the Capitol, and dreading the fact that seeing her riding on a chariot through the city centre will make me realise that this is _real_. So far I've half been able to trick my mind that she's in school or busy looking after Prim and that's why she's not here in the woods with me. But I know after tonight, I won't be able to fool myself any longer.

I trudge back towards my small home with the spoils of a few afterschool hours in the woods in my bag. My snares managed to trap three rabbits and I was able to forage some greens and berries. It's just enough to feed my family and the Everdeens, but not enough left over to trade with.

Prim and Mrs Everdeen are sitting in silence, side by side in our living room when I return home. They've been spending a lot of time at our house recently and my Mother invited them to watch the opening ceremony with us tonight. I've a feeling that they will be watching the Games coverage with us most nights.

My Mum prepares the rabbits and the seven of us crowd around the tiny dinner table to eat. Nobody speaks, not even little Posy.

Shortly it is time for the opening ceremony to begin. Mum, Mrs Everdeen and I sit on the threadbare settee while Rory, Vick and Posy sit on the rug in front of the television. Prim settles herself on my lap; I don't mind at all - I need someone to cling to as much as she does.

The announcer introduces each district in turn and says a little about each tribute and the costume they're wearing. I recognise most of the tributes from the Reaping coverage and once again my heart sinks when I see the strong, confident career boy from Two. From what little I've seen and heard of him, he's the strongest contender in the Games, along with the huge guy from Eleven.

We all gasp when district Twelve's chariot emerges. Katniss looks gorgeous, yet terrifying, in a black unitard with flames surrounding her – a far cry from the dreadful coal mining costumes seen on District Twelve tributes in recent years. She smiles and waves to the crowd and they love her, although the effect is somewhat ruined by Steffi Tandem, who stands next to her wearing the same costume but with a look of pure terror and sadness on his face. The announcer says his piece about Katniss: how she volunteered for her sister and is the first District Twelve volunteer for over a decade. By the time the chariot reaches the City Circle, they're already referring to her as "The Girl Who Was On Fire".

_A/N: Just a short one with not much content I'm afraid! But I'll be updating again soon and the next one will be longer. I'm writing my dissertation at the moment – it's due on Thursday – and writing this is a bit of procrastination/escape for me!_


	4. Chapter 4

_4: Gamemakers Scores_

_Steffi_

I don't know why I'm even here. I might as well give up now, there's absolutely no chance I'm going to win these Games – I probably won't even make it through the first day.

By the time we reached the Capitol, I could tell that Haymitch had already given me up as a lost cause, so I won't be getting any sponsors, and after the chariot ride I felt even more hopeless. When we first emerged, people were chanting "District Twelve" and cheering us on but after a short time the chants changed to "Katniss! Katniss! Katniss!" as my district partner smiled and waved. Not one single person was chanting my name.

The last few days have been reserved for training. As I have practically no skill with any weapons, Haymitch advised me to attempt some of the survival stations, such as knot tying and camouflage. I was reasonable at both, but I don't feel they will really help me in the arena. I also had a go at some of the smaller weapons, such as knife throwing, but with little success. I still have no idea what to do when I have to perform in front of the Gamemakers in a few hours.

_Peeta_

My older brothers and I make our way to the square, where we plan to watch the announcement of the tributes' scores from the Gamemakers. We have a television at home, but our Mother was in a terrible mood today and we decided it would be best to get out of the house for a while.

We make small talk as we walk, discussing business at the bakery and gossip from around the district. When the topic of the Games inevitably comes up, I tense up and try to join in as they compare the tributes – who is going to win? Who is going to die first? Which female tribute is the hottest?

When we reach the square a few excruciating minutes later, my oldest brother saunters off to join a group of his friends and the other rounds on me with an a serious look on his face.

"You're in love with her aren't you?"

I try to keep my face impassive as I shrug and ask, "In love with whom?"

"That girl, the one from the Seam. _Katniss,_" he practically whispers her name.

I look at his face and want to deny what he says, but I can't. Evidently my silence and the look on my face was enough for my brother to reach a conclusion, and he sighs heavily and claps me on the shoulder.

"Sorry, man"

For a second I'm a little incredulous that the girl I love is heading for her death and all he can say is "Sorry, man".

"How did you know?" I manage to squeak

He looks at me as though I'm an idiot.

"I share a room with you, and you sometimes talk in your sleep. These last few days all you've been saying is her name over and over again. Even if it wasn't for that I think it would've been pretty obvious. I've seen you staring at her before when she brings her sister to the bakery, you haven't been yourself recently and every time someone mentions the Games you tense up. Don't worry though, I won't tell anyone! Does she know?"

"Does she know what?" I ask, a little shocked that my feelings are apparently so transparent.

"That you feel this way about her"

"No," I reply, "I was going to talk to her after the Reaping but, obviously I… couldn't" I end lamely.

My brother gives me a sad half-smile and claps me on the shoulder again. Apparently that's how males show sympathy around here. I want to talk to him more but the show is beginning and everyone falls silent to watch.

_Gale _

It's getting a little crowded at our house. Prim and Mrs Everdeen have practically moved in and, while I can understand that they need the support that my family and I give them, our house really isn't large enough for seven people.

It is for this reason that I decide to go to the town square to watch the Gamemakers' score announcements tonight, rather than watching at home. I just need to get out of the house for a while and I'm certain that Katniss will get a good score thanks to her archery skills, so I don't feel too guilty for not being there for Prim and the others.

I walk past two of the baker's sons, a little surprised that they chose to watch outside rather than in their plush merchant's house. I can't help but overhear the tail end of their conversation.

"Does she know what?" the younger one asks.

"That you feel this way about her" the older one replies.

"No. I was going to talk to her after the Reaping but, obviously I… couldn't"

I wonder for a moment who they're talking about, but my train of thought is shortly interrupted by the blaring music from the large screen in the square as an announcer excitedly shouts that the Gamemakers' scores are in.

Each tribute's face appears on the screen, followed by a number between 1 and 12, based on how well they impressed the Gamemakers. The majority of scores are not particularly surprising: the strong blond career and the giant from Eleven both scoring ten. Eventually, the screen displays "District 12" and the face of Steffan Tandem appears, along with a shining number 4. I'm sad for Steffi but not altogether surprised at his low score. He is a friend of Rory's and as far as I know is a kind-hearted boy who loves his little brothers and sisters, but doesn't really have any skills which would be useful in the arena.

I don't have long to feel bad for Steffi because a few seconds later Katniss' face appears, accompanied by a shining number eleven, and I can't help but grin as relief floods through me. I've never seen a tribute earn an eleven before but if anyone deserves it, it's her. I wish that I could be there to congratulate her.

Once the rest of the programme is finished, I head home with my heart feeling lighter than it has been since before the Reaping. I knew Katniss was good, but now I think she has a real chance out there. Maybe she'll come back to me after all.

I realise that I'm walking just behind the two baker's boys and my mind is brought back to the snippet of conversation I heard earlier. I get a look at the younger boy and see that he is now grinning and talking enthusiastically with his brother. I'm a few metres behind but I catch the odd word of their conversation, such as "arrows", "squirrels", "Seam", "Games" and "beautiful". I know he's talking about Katniss – who else could those words refer to?

I've seen him staring at her before. Now I hear him talking about confessing his feelings to someone, and calling her beautiful. I start to form a conclusion in my mind, but I seriously hope it's wrong.

_A/N: __I'd love to know what you think of Steffi's POV. I thought I should include something from him since he's my only original character - did it add anything or was it just a bit short and pointless? Thanks for reading!_


	5. Chapter 5

_5: Interviews_

_Gale_

Today is Sunday, so I rise with the sun and head out for the woods. Katniss and I usually hunt all day on a Sunday and catch enough for both our families as well as enough to trade, but I know I'll have trouble catching as much on my own.

The snares have caught six rabbits and a few squirrels, which is less than I had hoped. I don't have a chance of catching any larger game without Katniss' help so I decide that fishing is the best option, and manage to catch twenty fish. By now I only have time to forage a few greens and berries if I am going to be able to get a good trade before going to watch the interviews part of the Games tonight.

I head to the Hob and manage to trade two of the rabbits and ten the fish for various useful items. Greasy Sae tries to make conversation and we end up talking about Katniss. Although I feel a lot better about her chances after the excellent training score, the conversation still gets me down and I soon bid farewell to Sae. Everyone else at the Hob either avoids my gaze or just smiles sympathetically in my direction, making me feel even worse.

I decide to try my luck at the bakery with the squirrel and remaining fish. I know the baker loves squirrel and was generous enough to give me a whole loaf in return for one on Reaping day. Perhaps he will be generous again, knowing that my hunting partner is gone.

After peering through the front window to make sure the baker's wife is in the shop and not at the back, I go to the back door and knock. To my disappointment, it is not the baker who answers the door but his youngest son, Peeta.

I am reminded of the conversation I heard between Peeta and his brother in the square yesterday and realise that this is a golden opportunity to ask him about my suspicions with nobody else around. All thought of trading forgotten for the moment, I grab the boy by his collar and pull him out into the alley behind the bakery, slamming the door behind him.

_Peeta_

The knock on the back door startles me; my hand jumps and ruins the icing on the cake I was decorating. I realise it must be a trader as nobody else would use the back door. For a second my heart races as I think that it could be Katniss, here to trade squirrels as she often does on a Sunday, but I soon realise that it can't possibly be her.

It's Gale Hawthorne, Katniss' best friend and, according to some of the rumours at school, lover.

Before I can even say "Hello" he's grabbed me and dragged me out the door into the alley. I can't help but feel a little scared; he's older, taller and stronger than me and he's got blood all over his hands. Admittedly, it's probably rabbit's blood, but it's intimidating nonetheless.

"Who were you talking about last night?" he all but growls at me, becoming more intimidating by the second.

"What?" I croak, honestly confused.

"Last night in the square I heard you say that you wanted to tell someone about your 'feelings' for them but you couldn't because of the Reaping. Who was it?"

I consider lying - I definitely don't want to get into a fight with Gale - but it seems like he already knows the answer. In any case, I've hesitated too long now and he'd know I was lying, so I'll have to go with the truth.

"Katniss," I admit, almost in a whisper.

He was frowning already but his frown becomes notably angrier as I admit this. He pushes me up against the back wall of the bakery.

"You leave her alone. She's _mine_." He growls possessively and then turns and stalks away.

"What does it matter? She'll probably be dead by the end of the week" I mutter to myself once he's almost out of earshot. Half of me wants him to hear, although I don't really expect him to, but apparently he does because he comes storming back down the alley and punches me across the face.

_Gale_

I didn't want to hit Mellark. I was hoping to just intimidate him into leaving Katniss alone. If she returns - no, _when_ she returns - I plan to make sure my feelings are known and she'll have the happy-ever-after she deserves. Then he had to go and make a comment about her possible death and I couldn't help myself. With that punch, I released my anger at the Capitol, with the Gamemakers and with myself, for not being strong enough to deal with this.

Walking home, I knock over every dustbin that I see and I glare at the people walking the other way. Guilt starts to creep in to my mind: it was unfair of me to hit Mellark like that – it's not his fault that Katniss is in the Games, but what he said has apparently ignited some spark of rage and, dare I say it, fear, in me.

Once I reach my home, I stand on the front step for a minute and breathe deeply. I push all the anger and fear and hurt deep down inside before pushing the door open. I smile at Mum, Mrs Everdeen and the kids and present the remaining fish and the items I traded at the Hob, earning myself hugs and thank-yous from everyone. We eat a quick dinner of fried fish before settling down in front of the ancient television to watch the interviews.

Caesar Flickerman addresses the audience from under a ridiculous powder blue wig. As always, he exclaims at how exciting everything is and how honoured he is to meet the tributes. Then he makes a few jokes and starts off the interviews with the girl from District One, Glimmer.

I barely pay attention to most of the tributes, apart from the cocky District Two tribute, Cato, and the strong and silent Thresh from Eleven, who only answers in single words despite Caesar's attempts to engage with him. Katniss' interview follows immediately after Thresh and as she takes her place on the stage I am left breathless.

Katniss is always beautiful, but tonight she looks radiant, like an angel. Her dress fits the flames theme which her stylist seems to love so much and is covered in sparkling jewels. For what feels like hours I am left awestruck, not listening to anything that Caesar asks her.

Once I regain my senses, I realise that there's something wrong with this picture. Katniss charms the audience with jokes and clever answers but although she looks breathtakingly beautiful, she just doesn't quite seem like herself. The Katniss I know would never wear such an extravagant dress; would never stand in front of an audience and _twirl_; would never _giggle _at a stupid joke from Caesar Flickerman.

Then he asks about Prim and the Katniss I know returns. I can tell she's not far from tears as she goes to sit down. I don't know how to feel as Caesar finishes the interviews, young Steffi not making a huge impression on the audience. The Games begin tomorrow…

_A/N: I don't know if that was out of character, but I see Gale as the jealous/possessive type…_

_I would really like to hear your opinions of whether I'm writing the two boy's perspectives too similarly? For Peeta, I'm trying to go for a more lust/infatuation/long-term crush kind of attitude towards Katniss – he thinks he loves her but in reality he's not quite there (I don't believe you can love someone you've never spoken to!). For Gale, it's more of a love/commitment relationship. _

_Of course, either of these might change over the course of the story so don't give up if you're a Peeta fan! _

_I just want to know if this is coming across at all. If not, is there anything I could do to make it better? Any other opinions are great too!_

_Thanks to everyone for your reads, alerts and reviews! __J_


	6. Chapter 6

_6: In Dreams_

_Peeta_

_In my dreams, we dance._

_She wears the flame-covered dress from the interviews and as we dance and twirl together I feel flames creeping into my heart. _

_We come closer and closer together as the music speeds up until she's wrapped around me and I her. Her small, perfect fingers tangle into my hair and my right arm goes all the way around her slim waist, while my left hand rests on her back. I can feel her soft breaths on my face as we are so close together._

_I dip her backwards to kiss her but just before my lips touch hers she lets out a scream._

_I look up and see the male tribute from District One – Marvel – swing a sword down towards both of us. I turn my back to him, trying to shield Katniss with my body, but see that I'm too late - a knife sticks through her chest, a knife thrown by Clove, the female District Two tribute. Invisible hands drag me backwards away from her as I try to fight them off, but I can't save her as all four of the other career tributes move in towards her and the six of them laugh as she screams._

I wake with a start. I'm in my room at home, safe. Katniss is somewhere miles away, just hours away from entering the arena where my nightmare could come true. Evidently I was talking in my sleep as my brother is sitting awake in his bed across the room from me. We stare at each other, neither saying a word and I know I won't be going back to sleep tonight.

_Gale_

_In my dreams, we hunt. _

_We're in our woods outside District Twelve, the only place we feel safe, the only place where she ever smiles. She is smiling today. _

_We walk through trees and shrubbery and she takes my hand – hers feels small and cold in mine. Suddenly we are at the lake where we sometimes fish. We sit side by side on the bank, feet dangling in the water, still holding hands._

_She climbs into my lap, her legs straddling my hips and I know this is a dream, because my Katniss would never be so bold. She leans forward and kisses me softly on the lips. She pulls away, sighs gently and presses her forehead against mine. I watch her lips as she speaks._

"_I heard you in the Justice Building. Of course, I always knew that you loved me. I loved you too"_

"_Loved me?" I hear myself ask "Don't you still love me?"_

"_The dead can't love" she replies and kisses me gently again. My eyes close as she kisses me, her lips cold and soft against mine. When I open my eyes, she is gone. _

When I wake I feel tears on my cheeks and I struggle to catch my breath. In my head I tell myself that she's alright, but the little voice in the back of my mind asks me "_But for how long?_" and I know I won't be going back to sleep tonight.

_Prim_

_In my dreams, we laugh._

_Katniss is not one for jokes, but sometimes something will catch her by surprise and she can't stop herself from laughing._

_She laughs at me trying to use a bow and arrow. Every time I let the string go it twangs and the arrows go flying off all over the place, or just drop uselessly to the ground._

_She takes the bow and shoots a squirrel, hitting it straight through the eye. _

"_That's how you do it!" she says, grinning; "Now you try again!"_

_I smile and take the bow from her. I notch the arrow onto the string and know that this time I'm going to do it right. I release and the arrow soars high into the air and hits a target, perfectly!_

_Only when I run up to find out what I hit do I realise it's my sister. The arrow protrudes from her chest and shuddering breaths wrack her body._

"_Katniss! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, it was an accident" I cry, trying to pull out the arrow, but it won't budge._

"_It's okay, Prim, you're my sister" she whispers, and her eyes flutter closed._

I wake up, gasping for breath and terrified. I am in an unfamiliar room. That's right; we're staying at the Hawthorne's house at the moment. Mum is sharing with Hazelle while I share with Vick and Posy. I know I won't be able to get back to sleep tonight, so I get out of bed and shuffle into the next room, where Gale and Rory sleep. I crawl in to the bed with Gale – he's awake too, as I knew he would be. For the rest of the night we hold each other and sob, wondering whether Katniss is sleeping tonight for the last time.

_A/N: Sorry this chapter is a bit of a filler, but I had this idea and wanted to run with it! The next chapter is very long to make up for it and will be up tomorrow. _


	7. Chapter 7

7: The Games Begin

_Gale_

The Games began this morning. I don't get any work done all day at school as I'm not paying any attention - I'm on tenterhooks all day, knowing that Katniss is already in the arena and there's nothing I can do about it. Usually they show updates during lunchtime at school, but it's the first day so they leave all the "excitement" for this evening. As soon as the bell rings to signal the end of the school day, I am out of there.

My Mother greets me at home, but I ignore her. Strangely, Prim and Mrs Everdeen are not at our house, apparently preferring to watch the first day's coverage alone at home. My family and I eat a feeble dinner of day-old rabbit stew and settle to watch the Games.

The show begins promptly at six. It usually lasts for around two to three hours depending on how much action has gone on during the day. Today will be a long one, since the first day of the Games almost always involves a huge bloodbath at the Cornucopia.

The crest of Panem appears on the screen, accompanied by a blast of trumpets, followed by "The 74th Hunger Games" in a shining gold font. It cuts immediately to the opening shot of the tributes rising into the arena on the plates- evidently they decided to forego any introduction and get straight down to the action.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, let the 74th Hunger Games begin!" booms the announcer's voice.

As the sixty second countdown begins, the camera pans across the Cornucopia; all manner of weapons and survival items – backpacks, sleeping bags, first aid kits – glint in the sun. I catch sight of a bow and arrow which I know Katniss will want, but I inwardly will her to just run from the Cornucopia and worry about weapons later – I don't want her involved in the inevitable bloodbath.

A very brief close-up shot of each tribute is given, each wearing the same light trousers and black hooded tops. Some look excited; some calculating; most just plain terrified. Katniss looks like she's thinking hard, weighing up her options. I just hope she goes for the sensible option and runs as fast and far as possible.

She doesn't.

_Peeta_

My family and I crowd around the television screen in the sitting room as the coverage of the first day begins. My Mother is complaining about some rude customer from the bakery, but I can't hear her over the pounding of blood in my ears as they show the tributes standing on their metal plates as the countdown begins.

When the gong signals the beginning of the Games, Katniss is off her podium in a flash. She sprints towards the Cornucopia – I never knew she could run so fast! – and is the first to reach the pile of weapons. She grabs the bow and arrow as well as a sleeping bag and a backpack, which she swings up on to her back. By now many of the other tributes have also reached the Cornucopia.

Cato from District Two manages to grab two long knives and kills both tributes from Six before they even knew he was coming for them. Two simultaneous slashes to the throat and the 74th Games has its first victims.

Meanwhile, various fights have broken out in and around the Cornucopia and the camera cuts between different tributes. The boys from Three and Five fight over a backpack until the female from Nine sticks a knife into the back of Five and takes the bag herself, while Three runs for his life. Nine relaxes for a moment and it's a moment too long as Marvel, the career from District One, grabs her from behind and slits her throat.

The girl from Two, Clove, throws a knife into the boy from Nine's back as he tries to escape with an orange backpack.

When the camera moves to show us the next tribute battle, I have to stop myself from crying out in horror. Katniss is facing off against the boy from Four. He has a short sharp knife in his hand while she has no close-combat weapons, only the bow and arrow which would be worse than useless in this situation. He feigns towards her with the knife as she ducks and dodges out of its way. On his fifth lunge, he catches her.

The knife slices effortlessly across her shoulder and bright blood bursts forth. She yells in pain but doesn't have time to stop as the boy goes for her again with increased vigour. This time, she spins and the knife lodges into her backpack. Caught by surprise, the boy stumbles over backwards and the tables turn as she yanks the knife out from her backpack and points it towards him.

For a second they stare at each other and then Katniss turns and runs away towards the forest, leaving the boy on the ground. The camera shows her making it to the treeline before cutting to another tribute fight. She's safe, for now; I am able to relax a little as the remainder of the bloodbath is shown.

Both tributes from Seven, the girls from Three and Ten, and the boys from Four and Eight are also unable to escape the bloodbath. As predicted, Cato is the most prolific killer– six of the eleven bloodbath tributes fall at his hand.

The worst death is the boy from Four: the one who attacked Katniss. Mere minutes after her escape, Cato storms over to him and stabs him in the leg. He falls to the ground, where the larger boy straddles him and pins him down. Four can't suppress the look of horror on his face as his former ally bears down on him.

"You let her go!" Cato yells, stabbing the younger boy in the arm.

"You let her go!" he screams again, stabbing the other arm. The boy, starting to get delirious from loss of blood, mutters "no, no, no", but Cato ignores him.

"You _fucking _let her go!" he finally plunges the knife into the boys chest and the muttering abruptly stops.

_Gale_

The show ends with the names and faces of those whose deaths had been shown over the course of the two-hour coverage; all eleven of them. I unclench my hands, which have been in tight fists ever since the first shot of Katniss on the metal plate. My palms are white with red semi-circular cuts from where my fingernails dug into the skin. Katniss made it away from the Cornucopia with a bow and arrow, a knife and a backpack of supplies, but also an injury.

I change the channel over to the one now showing twenty-four hour live coverage. At the moment they're focussing on the careers, who are organising the supplies from the Cornucopia. My heart twists whenever I see Cato. Watching him destroy that boy from Four for letting Katniss go gives me a very uneasy feeling – he should not be underestimated.

My family don't even try to talk to me, just silently leave the room and go towards the bedrooms upstairs. My Mum puts her hand on my shoulder and squeezes it reassuringly as she passes.

I stay up watching the live coverage of the Games. They show clips of each tribute in turn; most of the remaining tributes are in pretty good shape, even Steffi who I had not expected to last this long.

When they finally have Katniss on screen she is walking through the woods, bow and arrow in hand. She looks more like herself now. I could almost fool myself that the giggling girl in the pretty dress at the interview was someone else, but now that she's wearing leather boots and carrying a bow and arrow through the woods she looks like _my_ Katniss. I can almost imagine that this is just video of her in the woods outside district 12, hunting rabbits. Except the game she's hunting now is much bigger and harder to kill and there are still twelve tributes out to kill her, including that awful Cato who seems to have it in for her.

She manages to bandage up her shoulder with some gauze from the backpack. The backpack also contains a little food, more gauze and basic medical supplies, matches, bale twine, a bottle of iodine, a pair of woolly gloves, some night-vision glasses and two water bottles, one of which is unfortunately empty and one which had originally been full but lost most of its contents due to being pierced by the knife during her fight with the boy from Four.

She drinks what little remains of the water from the pierced bottle and eats some dried fruit. Then she straps herself to a tree with the sleeping bag around her legs and the gloves on her hands, and falls asleep. I too drift into an uneasy sleep. In my head I see the boy from Two plunging his knife into the other career's chest.

I wake up to the sound of a girl's scream.

My eyes dart to the television screen, my heart in my mouth. It's not Katniss - the careers have found the girl from Eight, who was stupid enough to light a fire.

The camera follows the careers as they run through the woods and then the shot moves backwards and I see Katniss in the tree, only about ten metres from where the careers are now. I feel myself let out a strangled groan. She's awake but staying perfectly still. A nearby camera tries to zoom in on her face through the tree branches; she is frozen in fear.

An argument breaks out among the careers over whether the poor girl from Eight is dead or not. Eventually the girl from One agrees to go back to check and, finding the girl just barely alive, cuts her throat. The cannon fires.

Shortly, dawn breaks and the careers leave, having never spotted Katniss up the tree. They're running away from where she is and I'm relieved that she's safe for now. I let out the breath which I didn't know I was holding and grudgingly being to get up as I need to leave for school soon. I turn the television off, praying that today will be another lucky day for Katniss.

_A/N: Sorry for the bad language from Cato! I won't use it often but I feel it was necessary and this story is T rated. I'm not good at writing violence so I'd love to hear any tips to make it better!_

_Also, sorry if it seems like I repeated too much from the book – do you think I did? At the moment, Peeta's absence from the Games isn't making much difference between my story and the books, but it will later on.  
_


	8. Chapter 8

_8: Days 2 and 3 of the Games_

_Peeta_

Having been unable to watch the live coverage of the Games at all – I don't want to attract any questions from my Mother – I toss and turn all night, wondering what is going on with Katniss. I am relieved that she made it through the initial bloodbath and was able to get hold of a bow and arrows, but anything could've happened overnight and I'd be none the wiser.

I'm starting to get fed up with my brother; I wish I'd never told him about my attraction to Katniss! He alternates between giving me sympathetic looks and slaps on the back, and making irritating comments to try and rile me up in front of the rest of the family.

Furthermore, the black eye and cut on my cheek – courtesy of Gale Hawthorne – has attracted some suspicion from my family. I told my Mother that I slipped over and hit my head on a counter in the bakery, but it wasn't particularly convincing. She accused me of fighting with some "Seam scum" and proceeded to spend the rest of the day complaining about the "savages" from the Seam.

When my brother asked me for the _real _reason for my black eye, I dared not tell him that it actually _was_ a kid from the Seam who gave it to me!

I manage not to think too much about Katniss for the majority of the day. Luckily most of my friends aren't interested in the Games, so I'm able to avoid the topic most of the time. Even more luckily, my friends aren't very intelligent – they all believed my story about hitting my head in the bakery, hence my black eye.

At lunchtime, updates of the Games are shown on the big screen in the school hall. They catch us up with what happened last night – apparently the girl from district Eight was killed by the careers, but hers is the only death since yesterday. Short clips of each tribute show Katniss walking through the woods, chewing on some meat which looks like rabbit.

In the afternoon I have to go to the bakery to re-ice the cake which I ruined yesterday. As I work, I catch sight of Gale, carrying a bag which presumably contains some kind of game from the woods. As he passes, he suddenly turns his head and is looking right at me. His facial expression doesn't change; he just stares at me, staring at him. After a few seconds he turns away and continues on towards the Seam. I make the decision that I should probably talk to him, apologise for what I said and hope that he doesn't hit me again.

Once the cake is finished, I head home and arrive just in time for the beginning of tonight's Hunger Games coverage. After a recap of what happened the previous day, which is pretty unnecessary since everyone in Panem is required to watch anyway, they show the clip of the girl from Eight being attacked by the careers. When the camera pans back to show Katniss in the tree so close to the careers my heart jumps. I know she wasn't caught by them - it would've been on the lunchtime update - still I can't hide my relief when they run off in the opposite direction. Only after I let out the deep breath of relief and flop back in the chair do I remember that my whole family is there. My brother cocks his eyebrow at me and my Mother scowls in my direction – I need to be more careful to hide my feelings towards Katniss.

The remainder of the day's coverage is quite uneventful. Most of the tributes, including Katniss and Steffi, are wandering around trying to find water or shelter or each other. The careers are investigating their supplies at the Cornucopia. They plan to begin hunting down other tributes tomorrow and apparently Katniss is their top priority. Her score of eleven, which seemed like such a blessing at the time, has made her their biggest target.

_Gale _

The second day of the Games was, thankfully, mostly uneventful. I am worried for Katniss as she hasn't had any water all day and she seems to be showing some signs of dehydration. However, she is not far from a stream and, even better, there are no other tributes anywhere nearby. I leave the television on all night, in case something happens, but I'm able to get a half-decent night's sleep on the settee.

When I wake up in the morning, Katniss is still sleeping in the tree where she strapped herself the night before. Feeling fairly confident for her safety at the moment, I leave for school.

At lunchtime, the updates show that Katniss is still looking for water. I'm surprised and disappointed as last night she was only about half a kilometre away from a stream, but she must've travelled in the wrong direction. I start to worry as there's only so long one can go without water, and it's been nearly two days since she drank the small amount of water in the bottle from her backpack.

As I rush from the school at the end of the day, I can hear someone following behind me. When we're a short distance from the school gates, the person behind calls my name so I stop and spin around. I find myself face-to-face with Peeta Mellark.

His eye is bruised purple from where I hit him a few days ago; it's starting to turn yellow and green around the edges. I can't help but feel a little guilty, but I don't take the glare off my face as he stutters into speech.

"Hi Gale. I…uh… I just wanted to say sorry what I said yesterday... about Katniss." He stammers.

When I don't reply he continues, "I don't know why I said it, I was just upset and angry I guess. The thing is, I really like her and…" I hold my hand up to cut off his rant. He flinches slightly as though he thinks I'm going to hit him again.

"Yeah. It's okay. I'm sorry I hit you." I mutter half-heartedly, gesturing to his bruised face.

He smiles and nods; we have an understanding. After a few seconds of incredibly awkward silence, he pipes up again.

"So, she's doing well, huh?"

I look at him quizzically, wondering where this conversation is going.

"Yeah, I guess," I reply, shrugging.

He's obviously bright enough to realise that I don't want to talk about it right now, so he just gives me a sad half-smile.

"Okay… well, I'll see you around Gale," he says, walking off in the direction of the town.

I stand there for a few minutes trying to work out what just happened; I'm a little dumbfounded by the whole thing. I punch him and then _he _apologises to _me_? That can't be right.._. _Then he's being all friendly and smiley and talking to me about Katniss. He might be from a merchant family and he has a crush on my girl, but it's very hard to dislike Peeta Mellark.

_Prim_

For the last few days, Mum and I have stayed at home to watch the Games. It's quiet and terrifying in our house without Katniss there, so I begged her to let us go to the Hawthorne's to watch tonight. I know she doesn't want to impose on their home, but I do manage to persuade her eventually. After a meagre supper of tesserae grain with some smoked fish, we head to their house.

I sit on the rug with Rory, Vick and Posy. I like them, the whole family. Gale is like my big brother, Rory and Vick are two of the nicest boys I've ever met and Posy is an adorable little girl. I know there's nothing we can do to help Katniss right now, but being with them makes me feel just a bit better.

As the programme begins, a recap shows what happened the day before, which was very little. Then there are short montages of each tribute and what they've been doing over the course of the day – also very little.

The most interesting thing was the boy from district three joining up with the careers. He went up to them at the Cornucopia and just barely dodged a knife thrown by Clove. With Marvel's spear aimed directly at him, he shouted out his plan to the careers: in return for their protection, he offered to dig up the landmines surrounding the starting plates and bury them around their supplies. Luckily for him, they accepted his offer and he was left to guard the supplies whilst the careers trekked into the forest, hoping to find some other tributes.

The redheaded girl from Five has been hiding out in a thicket near the Cornucopia since the very beginning. She's crafty and actually managed to steal some food from the career's stash when Glimmer fell asleep on guard duty last night – a risky strategy, but it paid off.

The boy from district Ten, who had a bad leg, has just been stumbling around the forest. As well as his original bad leg, he has also injured to his other leg. From what I know of medicine, he's walking as though he's twisted or sprained his ankle, maybe even broken it. He managed to grab a small bag from the Cornucopia, but has already consumed the small amounts of crackers and beef it contained.

Thresh, the big, scary tribute from district Eleven, has been keeping himself to himself in the large grain field. His district partner, who is only the same age as me, has mostly remained up in the trees. She gathered various roots and berries and has managed to find a source of water, which is more than can be said for Katniss.

Steffi is doing remarkably well, better than I expected actually. He managed to find a small cave near a stream, so he has a good supply of water. It's well covered and barely visible from the outside, especially at night. His main priority right now should be food and some kind of weapon. He might be well hidden, but if someone did happen to find him then he'd be a sitting duck without something to defend himself with.

In fact, Katniss appears to be faring the worst of all the tributes right now. As the end of tonight's programme draws nearer, she _still _hasn't found a water source and I'm getting seriously worried about her when the announcer finally informs the viewers that Katniss is only minutes away from reaching water. I'm on the edge of my seat, willing her to keep going as she mumbles to herself and trips over tiny roots and rocks. She slips and falls just metres away from the edge of a pond, but doesn't get up again.

Her fingers trace patterns in the mud beside her and my inner voice screams at her to get up, that the pond is right there, that she is saved. It's thirty seconds or so before I realise that I was saying those things aloud.

Finally, _finally_, when I nearly thought she had given up, she raises her head and stares at the pond like it's a mirage. She crawls through the mud and reaches the water. Gale sighs in relief, Mum bursts into tears and Rory and Vick both hug me as we watch Katniss fill her bottle with water and add the iodine drops.

Once the rest of the show is finished, Mum and I say our farewells and walk the short journey back to our home. Buttercup greets us at the door and I reward him with a quick scratch behind the ear before going to bed. I usually share a room with my sister, but I can't sleep in there on my own so I've been sharing with our Mum since Katniss left. Mum has never been one to show much emotion, not since our Dad died years ago, but tonight she strokes my hair as I fall asleep and just before I drift off I'm sure I hear her whisper, "I love you, Primrose".


	9. Chapter 9

_9: Up in Flames (Day 4)_

_Gale_

Once again, I fall asleep watching the live Games footage. After the stress of watching Katniss nearly succumb to dehydration, I am exhausted and simply can't keep my eyes open any longer. The last image I see before I fall asleep is Katniss, strapped into a tree, holding a now-full water bottle.

A few hours later, I am woken by a roaring noise coming from the television. It takes me a few seconds to get my bearings before I realise what is happening on the screen – a wall of fire is sweeping through the arena, heading straight for her!

Instantly I am on my knees in front of the television. The camera shows Katniss fumbling with the strap around her waist, trying to detach herself from the tree. Once she's free, she jumps down and runs and runs and runs as the Gamemaker's fire chases her.

Hacking coughs wrack her body and she stops behind some stones to vomit. Every second she waits there, the fire comes closer and the more she runs away from it, the closer she gets to the careers.

Balls of fire start to shoot from out of the wall of flames, narrowly missing her every time. For agonisingly long minutes, she dodges and ducks out of the way of each fireball but then, just as she seems to be in the clear, one catches her leg. Her trousers set alight and she burns her hands trying to extinguish the flames. She's badly injured, but at least the fire attack seems to have stopped now.

Thankfully, she is close to a pool and she wades into it, hopefully relieving some of the pain of her burns. However, it is at this point that the cameras cut to the career pack, showing me that they're not far away from Katniss now – the flames did their job and drove her towards them.

When she sticks her leg out of the water to take a look at it, I can tell she is trying hard not to faint or vomit again. Although she can kill and skin an animal with no qualms whatsoever, Katniss has never been good when it comes to injuries. She pulls off her backpack and roots through it, eventually finding the small medical kit. There is a tiny pot of burn medicine, but nothing which would help a burn of the size or severity of that on her thigh. It does seem to offer relief for her hands, though, which is important if she is to use the bow and arrow.

She relaxes back into the pool, soaking her leg, and I want to shout at her that the careers are getting closer, but I know she can't hear me.

The sun is rising but there's no way I'm going to school. My Mum doesn't resist when I tell her this - it's not like I'd get anything done today anyway.

_Steffi_

I've made it to the fourth day of the Hunger Games. Twelve tributes haven't made it, but I have!

At the Cornucopia, I just grabbed the two items closest to me – an empty water bottle and a square of plastic – and ran for it. Having established that I'm useless with most weapons, I decided that hiding out and hoping that the others didn't find me was my best bet. I've found myself a good hiding place, in a cave which is practically invisible from the outside. It's near a small stream, so I have a constant source of water, although I am a bit worried about having nothing to purify the water with.

My biggest problem is food. I tried to set a few snares but they haven't caught anything yet. There are a few different berry bushes nearby, but I can't tell which ones are safe to eat and I definitely don't want to risk trying them.

Being from the Seam, I'm used to going without food but it's been nearly four days and I've never been this hungry in my life so I decide to venture a bit further away from the safety of my cave to try and find something to eat.

I follow the water, hoping that there will be more plants growing downstream. I pass some more berry bushes and a plant with strange brown pods growing on it, but nothing which I recognise as edible.

I feel like I've been walking for hours. I don't even feel hungry any more, but my head knows that I need to eat, and soon. I've been drinking water to keep my stomach full, but it's not giving me the energy I need; I have to rest. I sit on a soft patch of moss beside the river and shortly darkness descends over my vision as I black out.

_Gale_

I stay by the television all day. Having been awoken in the middle of the night, I do fall asleep a few times but each time I awaken to Katniss still wallowing in the pool and the careers getting even closer to her.

Aside from the careers and Katniss, the other tributes seem to have been left unaffected by the fire; evidently the Gamemaker's just wanted to force Katniss towards the pack. Steffi, the other tribute from District Twelve, seems to have taken a turn for the worse however, as he has been passed out in broad daylight for a few hours already. Apparently the announcer finds it brilliantly ironic that he's passed out from hunger just metres away from a blueberry bush. Katniss is my main priority and I know, somewhere in the back of my mind, that Steffi will have to die in order for her to come home. Nevertheless, I can't help hoping that nobody will come across him passed out and kill him.

When my younger siblings return from school, Katniss is still in the same place but the careers are dangerously close now. She's half-asleep and mumbling to herself but suddenly jerks up as she hears them approaching. She jumps up and starts running in the opposite direction, held back by her burnt leg but still making good headway. She climbs a tree surprisingly quickly, given her injured leg and shoulder, and by the time they catch up with her she's at least six metres from the ground.

She calls down a cheerful greeting to the careers. It's good to hear her voice, despite how croaky it is from the smoke; I realise that she's been completely silent throughout the Games so far. She has a brief exchange with Cato, the career from Two, before he starts climbing up the tree towards her.

He climbs slowly and laboriously, his weight and inexperience holding him back. By the time he has reached the branch where she had been, she's already much farther up, balancing on a slender branch like a squirrel. It's at this point that she decides to reveal the bow and arrow which had thus far been concealed in her backpack.

The shock is clear on Cato's face – apparently none of the careers realised that she'd managed to retrieve the weapon. Her hands are noticeably shaking as she shoots him in the thigh. It's not a fatal shot, but it causes his heavy body to fall to the ground, snapping off branches on the way down. For a fleeting second he lies perfectly still and I hope that he might've sustained a broken neck from the fall, but then his eyes open and I see the raging fire in them – he's furious.

While the careers are still reeling from the shock of what just happened, Katniss has notched another arrow into her bow and taken aim. The arrow flies gracefully through the air and hits it's target: Glimmer. The beautiful, blonde-haired tribute looks shocked and confused for a second as the arrow pierces her neck, before slumping to the ground as the cannon fires.

By now, the remaining careers know exactly what's happening – they're under attack. Before she even has time to raise the bow again to aim at the next career, they're running away from her at full pelt. Even Cato, who still has the arrow protruding from his leg, is able to escape surprisingly quickly – that's what adrenaline can do to you. She shoots a couple of arrows at their retreating backs, but her hands are still shaking and she only manages to graze Marvel's shoulder.

She leans back against the trunk of the tree, breathing heavily, her hands still shaking. After a few minutes she descends the tree and approaches Glimmer's body. Glimmer was carrying a few knives, as well as a bag full of supplies and a water bottle. Katniss leaves all but one of the knives – they'll be taken by the hovercraft - and takes the bag, swinging it onto her back over the top of her own, and hurries into the woods in the opposite direction from where the careers were.

My head is exploding with conflicting emotions. First and foremost is relief that Katniss managed to escape from five careers completely unharmed. After watching her all day, expecting the worst, my relief is massive. Secondly, I feel strangely proud of her. It might sound wrong to be proud of someone for killing another human being, but the rules are different when it comes to the Hunger Games. I also know that killing a career, and injuring another, is really going to help Katniss in terms of sponsors. On the other hand, I'm worried for her. She had already incurred the wrath of Cato by outshining him in training and scoring an Eleven, but now she's humiliated and injured him as well. If and when they encounter each other again, Cato is going to be baying for her blood.

_Peeta_

I still can't quite believe what I just saw. Katniss had been surrounded by the careers. I felt certain that she wouldn't be able to escape – there were five of them and only one of her – but obviously I had seriously underestimated her! She managed to kill Glimmer and even injure Cato, who is her main competition in the Games, besides Thresh.

I've seen the squirrels she shoots, always a clean shot through the eye, but I've never actually witnessed her skill with a bow and arrow before. She never ceases to amaze me; she's beautiful, intelligent, strong... and deadly.

She retrieves a backpack from Glimmer. After walking for about an hour, presumably hoping to get away from the tree where she had been cornered in case the careers return, she opens it to take a look. It doesn't contain an awful lot because the careers left most of their supplies at the Cornucopia, but there is quite a lot of food in there and a long-sleeved jacket. Katniss shrugs off her fire-damaged jacket and replaces it with the new one from Glimmer's pack. Night is falling, so she climbs another tree, straps herself to the branches and starts eating some of the food. Minutes later, a silver parachute descends and lands on the branch beside her. It's a pot of ointment which she spreads liberally onto her leg, the relief evident on her face as it heals her burnt flesh.

Meanwhile, the careers are heading back to the Cornucopia. The whole way back, Cato has been cursing and fuming about Katniss and all the horrific plans he had for her when next they meet. I hope beyond hope that they never cross paths again.

Shortly, they are back at the Cornucopia and the young boy from Three, who had set up mines around their supplies, comes out to meet them. He heard the cannon's boom earlier and was probably hoping that they'd be in a good mood after killing another tribute. His face falls when he notices that Glimmer is no longer with them – she's the only one of the careers who has actually shown any kindness towards him, giving him some of her dinner last night. Unbeknownst to him, Glimmer is also the only one who disagreed with Cato's plan to kill him as soon as possible.

The young boy approaches the group of careers.

"What happened? Where's Glimmer?" he stammers, apprehensively.

Cato doesn't answer him but grabs the boys head and snaps his neck. As quick as that, the boy collapses to the floor unconscious and his cannon fires. Cato walks past the body though he wasn't even there. Apparently, taking out his anger on the boy makes him feel better as he's no longer loudly ranting and raving about Katniss. However, as he settles on a rock and starts to polish and sharpen his sword, I can almost make out the muttering under his breath and it doesn't sound good...

_A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating, it's exam season so I'm pretty busy! Thanks to everyone who's added me to favourites or alerts, I really appreciate it! _


	10. Chapter 10

_10: Day 5_

_Peeta_

Next day at school, everyone's talking Katniss. I love it because I finally get the chance to talk about her and say how brilliant she is without anyone being suspicious! However, there are a few times when I have to rein in my enthusiasm, before I say something inappropriate.

Gale Hawthorne was back at school today after his unexplained absence yesterday. We're sat near each other during the update video at lunchtime and I send a small smile his way. He doesn't exactly return the smile, but he does look at me without glaring or grimacing so it's an improvement.

He's certainly not the friendliest of people, but since our altercation and subsequent apologies, I feel a strange urge to talk to Gale. Maybe I want to know more about Katniss by getting to know her best friend, or maybe I'm feeling guilty for being in love with her, or maybe I just need someone to talk to. After all, apart from my brother, Gale is the only one who knows how I feel about Katniss; he's the only one who can understand _why _I feel that way. My brother doesn't get it at all – he's only interested in girls who might sleep with him.

The lunchtime update brings interesting news regarding our district's other tribute. Last night, things weren't looking good for Steffi – he'd collapsed from hunger out in the open where anyone could find him. Luckily for him, the first tribute to see him was Rue, the twelve-year-old girl from District Twelve. Instead of attacking him, she dragged him away from the river and slowly dripped water into his mouth to wake him. Steffi groggily opened his eyes. On seeing the girl, he shouted in fear and backed away from her, but with his lack of energy he only got a few metres before collapsing again.

She approached him slowly, the way one might approach a nervous animal, and spoke softly under her breath, convincing him that she wasn't going to hurt him. Eventually he responded and thanked her for saving him before desperately asking if she had any food. She did. The two of them shared some of Rue's roots and berries, with Steffi taking miniscule bites to prevent his stomach from cramping up after days without food. Both exhausted, they curled up in a cave together and went to sleep.

The next morning, the two of them discussed what they had seen in the Games so far. Steffi didn't have much to contribute because he hadn't come across any other tributes yet, but Rue told Steffi about Katniss' experience with the careers. It turns out that Rue had been hiding in a tree nearby the whole time!

I feel bad for the Games two youngest tributes; neither of them really stand a chance of winning, but at least now they have each other for company and they can help each other to survive.

After lunch and afternoon lessons, it's finally time to leave school. Walking out the school's front door, I see the tall silhouette of Gale Hawthorne already out of the gates and follow after him at a brisk pace, eventually catching up once we're out of sight of the school.

_Gale_

"Gale! Wait!" I hear my name and glance over my shoulder, seeing Peeta Mellark behind me. I consider ignoring him; I could easily just keep on walking, but I feel bad for the guy, so I reluctantly stop and cross my arms, looking at him expectantly.

"What is it?" I ask

"Um... I was just wondering if we could talk? About... you know... uh... Katniss?" the guy really needs to man up and stop stammering every time he talks to me.

"No, thanks," I say dismissively, and turn around to keep walking.

"Please. I really need someone to talk to and I thought you might too...?" he trails off. I can tell he's not going to take "no" for an answer.

"Fine," I sigh reluctantly, and continue walking, "I'm going to the woods so if you want to talk you can follow me there,"

He smiles and follows, practically jogging to keep up with me. Our conversation is very one-sided, with Peeta talking almost constantly and me giving occasional one-word answers or just grunting in agreement. He asks me all sort of questions about Katniss. For someone who claims to be in love with her, he really doesn't know her very well. It actually makes me feel bad for being angry with him when I first heard about his feelings for her. Clearly he just has some kind of schoolboy crush on her; she'd never choose him over me anyway – I'm her best friend, I know her better than anyone and I'm the only one (apart from Prim) who can actually make her smile.

Despite his incessant talking, I find myself liking Peeta more and more. He's a sweet guy really and I've heard all about how his Mother treats him, so his optimism and calm demeanour come as even more of a surprise – obviously he takes after his Father.

When we reach the fence separating the town and the woods, he stops.

"Well, I'd better head back to the bakery," he says, smiling – why does he smile so much? - "Thanks for talking with me Gale!"

"Um... you're welcome?" I reply, phrasing it as a question since I don't think what I did really counts as "talking".

"So, are you going to the square to watch the Games tonight?" he asks

I hadn't been planning to, preferring to watch in private in case the unthinkable happens and I break down. However, Peeta's looking very hopeful and I guess that means he was hoping to see me there and talk some more, so I go for the undecided approach and say "Maybe, I don't know yet."

"Okay, well... maybe I'll see you there"

We go our separate ways; me ducking under the fence and Peeta hurrying off in the direction of town. I have an hour or so to check the snares before I need to get home. Apart from my thoughts of Katniss, which are now more or less constant since she entered the Games, I think about Peeta. He's basically the opposite of me, with his easy smile and talkative nature, but I can't help thinking that maybe we could become... friends?

_Peeta_

I feel a lot better as I walk home. Gale isn't the most talkative person, but he doesn't seem to mind me just talking at him and that suits me just fine.

A few hours later, I head out towards the town square to watch tonight's installment of the Games. When I arrive, I glance around the square to see if Gale is here or not. There are a few small groups around the square, mainly of kids my age or older who don't want to watch the Games with their parents, but aren't old enough to have their own homes yet. I fit pretty neatly into that category; I don't want to spend any more time with my Mother than absolutely necessary!

Gale doesn't show up until a few minutes before the beginning of the programme. He comes to stand beside me, arms folded, but doesn't greet me or make any attempt to talk to me, so I keep quiet.

After the recap, which again shows Katniss attacking the careers and shows Rue and Steffi forming a tentative alliance, the rest of the show is fairly uneventful. Evidently, Katniss' encounter with the careers was enough action to keep the Capitol satisfied for a while, so the Gamemakers didn't interfere with anything today.

The careers, particularly Cato, are still intent on finding Katniss and taking her down. He has removed the arrow from his leg and bandaged it up, but is limping slightly. If anything this makes him appear even more dangerous. Their plan is to wait until nightfall, find Katniss while she sleeps, then wait for her to wake up and come down from whichever tree she is in, and chase her down. Obviously they've learnt that she has a big advantage if she's above them, so they'll wait until she's on their level.

It's really not the best thought-through plan in my opinion, mainly because it hinges on them being able to find Katniss in the dark when they have no idea where she is. I'm definitely not complaining though: the worse their plan, the better it is for Katniss and, by extension, me.

Rue and Steffi spend the day getting to know each other and gathering food. Rue shows him which berries and leaves are safe to eat, so that he won't starve again. Steffi shows her the cave where he hid for the first few days, and they decide to make it their home for now.

The redhead from District Five remains in her original hiding place. With the careers' attention focussed on Katniss, she's managed to stay out of their way pretty easily. From her vantage point, she can see the careers camp, and is able to snatch food from their supplies a few times a day. For example today when the girl from Four, who the careers left to guard their camp today after Cato killed their previous guard, goes off into the woods to relieve herself, she darts out from her hiding place and grabs a packet of crackers from the top of the pile of supplies. She's surprisingly quick and nimble, managing to dodge the landmines with apparent ease, and only ever takes a small amount of food at a time so that the careers don't even notice it's missing.

The boy from Ten, with the injured legs, is managing to get by – but only just. He's spent most of the time just sitting beside a small cluster of bushes, and eating the berries off of them. I'm actually surprised that the Gamemakers haven't tried to force him to move or do something more interesting, since all he does is sit there eating or sleeping.

Thresh remains in the wheat field, where he has been since the very beginning. Once or twice he's ventured out to the lake, under cover of darkness, to fill up his large water bottle. Most of the other tributes know where he is, but they're not planning to come after him anytime soon.

Katniss is doing well. The injury on her shoulder is starting to heal up, and the burn on her leg is also looking much better, thanks to the ointment from her sponsors. She spends the day walking, trying to put more distance between the careers and herself. Interestingly, she just barely misses the boy from Ten, walking within a few hundred metres of his hiding place. She also passes the cave where Rue and Steffi have set up camp, but they're inside at the time and don't see her. Considering the size of the arena, it's surprising that all the tributes are so close together.

Shortly before nightfall, Katniss climbs a sturdy-looking tree and settles down for the night – sleeping bag over her legs, gloves on her hands and strapped to the tree, as always. After a final shot of the careers continuing their night-time search for her, the crest of Panem shows and the show is over for tonight.

I turn to Gale. The relief is evident on his face; clearly he also realised how weak the career's plan is. I still haven't said anything and, surprisingly, Gale is the first to break the silence.

"She's safe" he whispers. I'm not sure whether he's talking to me, or just reassuring himself.

_A/N: I'm so sorry for the wait since the last chapter and I also apologies for the lack of action in this chapter - it will pick up again soon. My last exam is on Friday and then I'm going to London for the weekend. After that I'm free for pretty much the whole Summer so updates should be much faster. Thanks for your patience and thanks to everyone who's put the story on favourite/alert!_


	11. Chapter 11

_11: Day 6_

_Gale_

Today is Saturday so, thankfully, I don't have to go to school. I actually managed to get a good night's sleep yesterday – on the settee in front of the television, of course.

Nothing of note happened all night; the careers search for Katniss was unsuccessful, as I anticipated. The arena is huge, Katniss is camouflaged with her dark-coloured sleeping bag and clothes, and she doesn't snore or make any noise in her sleep, so they're unlikely to find her. Granted, they are heading in the right direction, but if she continues to walk today, I'm confident that they won't catch up.

With this confidence in mind, I don't feel too guilty about going out to hunt today. Part of me feels like I should stay and keep an eye on her all day, but another part of me knows that I made a promise to keep her family safe and that means providing food for them. Apart from the first few days of choosing to watch the Games at their own home, Prim and Mrs Everdeen have been at our house almost constantly. I actually think my Mother enjoys the company of having another adult in the house, and I know that Rory, Vick and Posy all love Prim – well, everyone loves Prim, I suppose.

Thankfully, my hunt is successful. The snares have trapped a good number of rabbits and squirrels, and I come across a wild boar drinking at a stream and manage to shoot it. I might not be as handy with a bow and arrow as Katniss, but I can get by until she returns. After collecting various greens and berries, including some strawberries, I head for the Hob, where I am able to trade the wild boar's hide for some potatoes and other vegetables. I take the boar's carcass to the butcher, who gives me a fair price and a leg of boar for my family. With the money I'm able to buy beans, eggs, sugar, a bowl of soup from Greasy Sae, and I still have coins to spare!

I stop at Mayor Undersee's house, hoping to sell him some of the strawberries, as they're his favourite. His daughter Madge, who is the same age as Katniss, opens the door. I give her my most charming smile and manage to pursuade her to buy all my strawberries at double the price I would get elsewhere. Just as I'm about to leave, she unexpectedly throws her arms around me in a hug,

"I'm sorry about Katniss," she chokes, sounding on the verge of tears, "I hope she'll come back to us."

"Me too," I say, patting her awkwardly on the back. She pulls away from the hug, whispering a quick "sorry" under her breath, and shuts the door on me. This is what I mean about people feeling sorry for me.

My last stop is the bakery, where I hope to offload a few squirrels. I'm not surprised when Peeta answers the back door. Our conversation is a lot more civil than the last time I came here; he agrees to trade two squirrels for a large loaf of rye bread and as he wraps the loaf for me, we make small talk. Well, he makes small talk; I just stand there.

"Will you be in the square again tonight?" he asks as I turn to leave.

"Yeah, I guess" I reply. I actually didn't mind watching the Games with Peeta last night. At home, everyone is either feeling sorry for themselves, or pitying me. Even Posy, who is too young to even understand what's going on, looks at me as though she feels sorry for me. Peeta, on the other hand, doesn't try to tiptoe around me or avoid talking about Katniss; he talks about her, asks questions about her and seems certain that's she's going to win the Games. His optimism is quite contagious and it makes me feel better.

I head home feeling pretty good about the amount of food I've managed to catch and trade. The closer I get, the more I start to worry – I've been gone for hours; what if something's happened to Katniss in this time?

I push the door open, bracing myself for the worst. Mum and Mrs Everdeen are sitting at the table, both drinking cups of tea. I glance over at the television and it's showing Katniss walking through the forest, same as yesterday. The two women smile at me and I grin back, throwing my game bag onto the table. The two of them rustle through the bag, exclaiming happily at the amount of food I brought and discussing what they want to make for dinner tonight.

A few hours later, once I've cleaned up from the hunt and eaten a delicious boar stew with fresh bread, I head out to the square to watch the Games again.

_Peeta_

"Heeey, lover boy!" my brother exclaims when he sees me this evening. I glare at him and don't reply.

"So, hows it feel to be in love with a _killer_?" he asks, whispering the last word like it's an exciting secret. I don't look up again, just continue piping cookies onto the baking tray.

"Oh cheer up, Peeta, for God's sake! She's doing great – over halfway there!" He's right actually. Fourteen tributes have already died, only nine remaining before Katniss will be coming home.

With this strengthening thought in my mind, I grin at my brother and head out to the square. Once again, Gale arrives later and stands beside me, but doesn't say anything. I was hoping to share the excitement of Katniss being over halfway through the Games, but I'll have to wait until later.

Tonight's show informs us that the careers are still after Katniss. They are following her and somehow seem to be going in exactly the same direction she went, which is surprising, since she is very lightfooted and makes every attempt to cover her tracks. Luckily, she's still hours ahead of them. The programme shows various clips of them overnight looking up in the trees for her, and during the day following her and bickering amongst themselves.

Like Katniss, they pass the cave where Steffi and Rue are sleeping. They also pass close to the boy from Ten, who is _still _in the same place, sleeping now. Just when it seems like they've passed without seeing him, he suddenly lets out an almighty snore and turns over in his sleep – it's more than enough for the careers to find him. Marvel prods him with the blunt end of his spear until he wakes up. Still groggy and confused from sleep, the boy peers up at the faces of the three careers who stand around him. Confusion is replaced with terror when Marvel raises the spear above his head, bringing it swiftly down on the boys chest. The cannon fires; there are nine tributes remaining.

After this "successful" afternoon, the careers decide to set up camp and get a few hours sleep before starting their night-time hunt.

_Gale_

When I see Marvel kill the boy from Ten, I can't help but feel a second of elation. I'm disgusted with myself for feeling happy over the death of an innocent child, but every death is a step closer to home for Katniss. One more and she'll be in the final eight. Come to think of it, Steffi is almost in the final eight too – it's the first time in years that both District Twelve tributes have made it this far.

After the programme ends, I say my goodbye's to Peeta and head home. I can tell he wanted to talk about something - probably wants to discuss what we've just seen - but I am really not in the mood for talking, so I make my excuses and leave. As always, I set up camp on the settee to sleep, so that I can see the television.

As night falls, Katniss straps herself into a tree to sleep. Steffi and Rue have also chosen to sleep in the trees tonight as well - they heard the careers pass by their cave, followed by the Ten's cannon and decide that their cave was too hard to defend if they were found. They marked the trees as they walked, so as to find the cave again in future if they needed to. As the three tree-huggers perpare to sleep, the careers are just waking up and are heading out.

I wake at around four in the morning. I'm still tired but I also feel a sense of uneasiness, like something is wrong. There is no noise coming from the television right now, but it's still on and I sleepily turn my head to see what's happening, if anything.

It takes my sleep-addled brain a few seconds to realise what I'm seeing, and it's the worst scenario imaginable.

Don't ask me how, but they found her.

_A/N: A very short delay to make up for the long one between chapters 9 and 10. Another slightly uneventful chapter though - I am really sorry - but as you can see, the next chapter will be much more interesting! _


	12. Chapter 12

_12: Day 6_

_Katniss_

I can hear them coming after me and they're gaining on me, getting closer by the second. I don't know how this happened – one minute I was peacefully climbing out of the tree where I slept, on my way to check the snares I set last night; the next minute, three of the careers explode out of the bushes behind me and I'm running for my life. How did they even find me?

My only choice is to climb a tree and try to hit them from above with my arrows, like last time. About fifty metres away, I see a tree which would be perfect for the job – lots of skinny branches which could hold my weight, but not the careers'.

I'm about twenty metres from the tree when one of them hits me. Searing pain clouds my vision for a second and I look down to see one of Clove's knives has caught my right hip. In the split-second of lost concentration, I manage to lose my footing, tripping over a loose tree root. Before I even hit the ground, I'm scrambling to get up again, but another wave of pain hits me as a second knife enters my body – my leg this time.

I struggle to get up and before I can even get my feet on the ground, the careers have got me surrounded. I reach for an arrow but my hands only make it halfway before I feel Cato's sword against my throat.

"Uh, uh, uh... I don't think so," he mocks. He nods to the boy from District One, who swiftly comes up behind me and grabs the bow from my hand. My heart is pounding in my chest as I stand there weaponless, surrounded by three careers.

Clove approaches me and yanks the knife out of my leg. I groan in pain and my leg collapses under me. I'm sprawled in the dirt at Cato's feet, blood pouring out of my wounded leg onto the ground. He looks around at his allies, an evil smirk on his face.

"Get out of here, I'll meet you back at the Cornucopia. I'm finishing _her_ off myself" he growls at the others and they reluctantly slink off into the trees.

Cato rounds on me, the grin on his face growing even larger. He kneels down beside me and touches his hand to the side of my face, almost tenderly.

"Now, what am I going to do with you, Girl on Fire?" he whispers, bringing his hand lower, wrapping it around my throat. Suddenly, without warning, his other hand is on my hip and he presses his fingers into my wound. I manage to suppress a scream, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much pain he's causing me.

The pressure of his hand around my throat increases. Gradually the fuzzy blackness starts to creep around the edges of my vision as I lose consciousness. I'm going to die...

_Gale_

I can do nothing but watch in horror. I know she was heading for that three and she would've made it if it wasn't for the girl with the knives. I can feel the pain myself when the knife strikes her hip, causing her to fall.

I don't want to believe it, but I can't tear my eyes away when Cato sends his allies away and wraps his huge hand around her neck. He presses on the wound in her hip and I can see the pain and fear in her eyes as she tries not to scream; her strength amazes me. Tears are rolling down my face and I gasp for breath when I see her eyes roll back as she loses consciousness. This is it...

Suddenly, Cato slumps to one side, falling to the ground and releasing his death-grip on her throat. Blood trickles from his temple, down the side of his face. What happened there?

The camera moves and shows a small figure hiding in a nearby tree – it's Rue! She is breathing heavily and holding a slingshot in her hand. Steffi, who is up high in a tree a little further away, looks at Cato in shock, then turns his awed gaze to Rue. She must've knocked out the career with a stone from her slingshot!

The youngsters carefully climb down their trees and approach the two unconcious tributes. Cato is groaning and starting to wake up and I pray that they are able to avoid him. I can hardly believe it when Steffi picks up Cato's dropped sword and, with surprisingly little hesitation, swings it down onto the older boy's neck. Steffi is not strong but the sword is sharp enough; the blow severs Cato's neck and the cannon fires.

Steffi looks down at the body of the career, the man he just killed, and bursts into tears.

My surprise and relief at the sudden death of Cato is shortlived, as the camera shows Katniss, still unconcious and losing blood at an alarming rate. Rue approaches her and tries to clean her wounds with water and strips of fabric. She roots around inside Katniss' bag and finds the bandages and first aid equipment from the Cornucopia. Ever so gently, she wraps bandages around Katniss, to cover the wound on her hip, which is the less serious of the two injuries. Her leg however is still bleeding profusely.

Rue shouts to Steffi, who is still sat in the dirt crying, to take his shirt off. He eventually does so, and throws it to Rue, who dampens it and presses it against the wound on Katniss' leg, trying to staunch the bleeding. A minute or so later, a silver parachute floats down beside Rue. The young girl opens the pack to reveal an assortment of medical equipment, including a sterile needle and thread, and a large padded bandage. A look of nausea flashes across Rue's face as she realises what she must do – she has to stitch up the wound if Katniss is going to survive.

I'm glad that it's Sunday and that I got such a good haul yesterday, because there's no way I'm leaving this room today.

_Steffi_

I killed someone.

I'm a murderer.

I'm only thirteen years old and I'm a murderer.

Early yesterday morning, we heard the careers pass our cave. With so many dangerous tributes nearby, we decided that we have to move somewhere which would be easier to defend, in case someone were to find us. Last night, we decided to sleep up in the trees; Rue showed me how to strap myself in, saying that she'd seen Katniss doing it before.

This morning we were woken by a commotion below. Katniss was smashing through the undergrowth, with three angry careers on her tail. I closed my eyes and prayed that they wouldn't look up and see us above them.

When they caught up with her, I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I could see that Katniss was outnumbered and injured. Surprisingly, two of the three careers then turned back the way they'd come.

I turned to look at Rue, only to find that she wasn't there. She was swinging gracefully through the trees, landing in the tree closest to the clearing, where Cato was now strangling Katniss. In the blink of an eye, Rue whipped out her slingshot and fired a large rock at Cato, who fell unconcious to the ground.

The next few minutes are an absolute blur in my mind. Somehow I managed to get hold of a sword and used it to kill Cato, but I don't know how I did that. I wish I hadn't.

I don't know how long I've been sitting here crying. Rue snaps me out of it for a second, shouting at me to give her my shirt. I peel it off, throw it in her direction and then sit back down, staring at the dead boy in front of me. Blood is pooling around his neck and the air is thick with the smell of it, making me feel ill.

Some logical part of my brain tells me that I did the right thing. Cato has killed before and would have killed again, without a second thought. He would've had no problem with killing me, or Katniss, or Rue...

I look over to Rue. Lovely Rue, who saved my life. She's trying to stitch up the wound in Katniss' leg but looks like she might throw up any minute. Once the wound is sealed, she presses the big padded bandage to it and secures it with another bandage.

As I watch her work, it dawns on me that we are in the final eight tributes. I can't believe I've got this far and I realise that I would never have made it if not for Rue. I owe her my life and I _will_ repay her.

_A/N: I'm so sorry for the delay for this chapter. It was really hard to write and I really hope it didn't disappoint! Next chapter coming soon!_


	13. Chapter 13

_13: Day 6 (part II)_

_Gale_

I'm impressed by Rue's skills with the needle and thread. She manages to patch Katniss up pretty well and even thinks to splash some iodine on the wound before she applies the bandage. I know iodine is a disinfectant sometimes used on minor wounds; I'm not sure how effective it would be on such a serious injury, but it's a smart idea nonetheless.

Steffi is still off in his own world, apparently having some kind of breakdown.

Marvel and Clove are jogging back towards the Cornucopia. They heard the cannon earlier and naturally assumed that Cato had finished Katniss off, so are whooping and celebrating at the moment. It makes me sick that they can celebrate the loss of a life like that, but I suppose I'm not any better: I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when Cato doesn't return to the Cornucopia tonight, when they see his face in the sky.

A few hours later, Katniss still hasn't woken up. Between them, Rue and Steffi managed to move her to a more concealed place, in a cluster of leafy bushes. They're safe for now as the careers still think Katniss to be dead and there are no other tributes close by. Having sat staring blankly at the television all morning, I decide that I need to get up off the floor and get something to eat.

As I chew on a stale crust of bread, not really tasting it, a thought suddenly enters my head – Peeta. What I'm watching now is live, almost everybody else won't see it until tonight, and I know for a fact that Peeta isn't able to watch the live shows at home. I really should go and tell him what's going on...

After a few minutes of weighing up my options, I decide that it would be best to go to the bakery and find Peeta. Katniss is unconcious but not getting any worse and there are no tributes near them, so I think it's safe to leave for a few minutes. After hastily throwing some shoes on my feet, I run towards the town.

_Peeta_

Sundays are my favourite day of the week because they're the day when my Father and I decorate the cakes and biscuits at the bakery. Also, my Mother usually avoids the bakery on Sundays, so I don't have to put up with her complaints or rudeness.

I've just put the finishing touches to a batch of cupcakes when I hear an insistent knocking on the back door. It's Gale, probably here to trade squirrels, although he's a little earlier than usual.

"Hey Gale," I say, opening the door, "Here to trade?"

He shakes his head. I notice the dark bags under his eyes, the stubble on his chin, the fact that he's out of breath as though he's been running and, most disturbingly, the sign of tear-tracks down his face.

"Shit, what happened?" I ask, panicking.

"Katniss. She was... attacked... she's... injured. Thought you ought to know..." he says breathlessly.

I stare at him, wide-eyed in shock; it takes a minute for the information to sink into my brain.

"How badly injured?" I ask in a whisper.

"Bad" he exhales shakily, running his hands through his scruffy hair in anguish. Abruptly, he grabs me by the elbow and drags me through the door. "You should come with me". I vaguely remember that the last time he did that, I ended up getting punched, but that's the least of my worries at this moment.

We half-walk, half-run to Gale's home. When we get there and he pulls me through the door, I have to hide my surprise at the state of the house. I've never been into one of the houses in the Seam before and while my own home certainly isn't the most impressive in District Twelve, compared to Gale's it's practically a palace. Everything here seems to be covered in a layer of black coal dust. The furniture, what little there is of it, is mismatched and ancient-looking. The small kitchen-dining-living room is lit with oil lamps and I realise that houses in the Seam usually only get electricity a few hours a day – it's only on all day during the Games, so that people can watch television. A pang of guilt hits me; I wonder if Katniss' home is like this too.

Abandoning me at the threshold, Gale runs over towards an old television set and sits down on a tiny, threadbare sofa, which creaks under his weight.

"She's still unconcious" he states, absent-mindedly waving a hand in my direction. I take this as an invitation and sit next to him on the raggedy sofa. Although the resolution on the screen is awful, from this distance I can now see what's going on.

Katniss lies unconcious on top of her sleeping bag. She looks dreadful: there are bloodied bandages around her leg and her hip; her face is awfully pale and there's a thin red line across her throat. The young girl tribute from District Twelve sits beside her, holding her hand, and Steffi is there too, just staring into space.

"What happened?" I quietly ask of Gale. He ignores me, his eyes fixated on the screen in front of us.

"Gale, what happened to her?" I say a little louder. He still doesn't reply. I get up and stand in front of him. He doesn't respond, apart from to move his head slightly to see the television. I put a hand on each of his shoulders and shake him vigorously, "Gale! Tell me what happened!" I shout.

This seems to snap him out of the stupor as he looks directly at me, anger flashing momentarily in his eyes. He looks down, frowning, and shakes his head. Once he's regained his composure, he proceeds to tell me the story of what happened this morning.

His voice breaks once as he tells me of the careers' ambush of Katniss, when he recounts how Cato seemed to enjoy choking the life out of her and causing her pain. I can't conceal my exclamation of surprise when he tells me how Rue and Steffi managed to take down Cato. That explains Steffi's vacant expression, anyway. I feel bad for the kid because he's only thirteen and seems like such a kind boy. I don't know what it's like to kill another person; I can only hope never to find out. I feel that I owe him so much for saving Katniss, but if she's to make it out alive, it will mean he has to die.

Moments after Gale finishes explaining what happened, Katniss starts to wake up. She blearily opens her eyes and squints at Rue.

"Prim?" she says, confused.

"No, it's Rue. Do you know where we are Katniss?"

"Where we are?" she repeats dreamily.

"Yes"

"I don't... I can't..." she begins, confusion evident on her face, "The Games! The Hunger Games!"

"Thats right" Rue says patiently, stroking Katniss' hand, "We're in the Hunger Games. It's the sixth day, there are eight of us left."

"Eight of us left" Katniss echoes. After a minute or so she asks "Who?"

Rue lists the remaining tributes and Katniss frowns again. "The boy from Ten?"

"He was killed yesterday. We think it was the careers." Rue explains.

"Oh, right," Katniss frowns "And Cato?"

"He attacked you, do you remember?" Rue asks gently. Katniss shakes her head. "Thats how you got these injuries..." she prompts, gesturing to Katniss' lower half. At this, Katniss tries to sit up and look, but is stopped by the pain from her hip.

"What? I don't remember... what happened?"

"The careers ambushed you this morning. They injured your hip and your leg and Cato tried to kill you. I knocked him out with my slingshot, and then Steffi killed him." Rue explains hurriedly. Steffi looks over at the mention of his name and gives Katniss a tiny, unconvincing smile.

For a few minutes Katniss lies still, staring at the trees above. Her lips move like she's talking to herself, but no sound comes out. I think she's trying to process the information or trying to remember. A silver parachute descends from the sky, holding a tiny canister. Rue opens it; it contains five small white tablets – antibiotics or something, presumably – and a note saying "Take one per day to prevent infection". They must have some great sponsors to afford medicines at this late stage of the Games. Between them they've killed two careers, which probably attracted a lot of sponsors, thank goodness.

_Gale_

Peeta stays at our house for the rest of the day. I don't mind really, in fact I quite like having someone else here, even though we don't talk. Katniss doesn't seem to be doing too badly, although she has some short term memory loss – she can't remember the careers' attack at all.

The major problems, of course, are her injuries. I think her hip will probably be fine; Clove's knife didn't cut her too deeply and Rue bandaged it up well. Her leg, on the other hand, was a much deeper wound. Even though Rue stitched it up and she has the pills to stop infection, she won't be able to walk on it for days.

Mum comes home at about four o'clock. This morning, after I told her what happened to Katniss, she went to visit the Everdeens and then had to run a few errands. When she returns, she looks at Peeta with an air of suspicion. It's fair enough – I think Peeta is the only person I've ever brought to our house apart from Katniss.

Peeta stands up and sticks his hand out formally and introduces himself, "Nice to meet you, I'm Peeta Mellark."

"Hazelle Hawthorne," Mum says, shaking his hand cautiously.

Peeta smiles and clears his throat awkwardly, not knowing what else to say. Eventually he turns away from Mum and addresses me.

"Well, thanks Gale. I'd better get back to the bakery, my parents are probably going spare. I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"Sure, see you tomorrow," I reply

"Actually," my Mum interrupts, "you don't have to go to school tomorrow, Gale. While I was at the Everdeen's, they got a message from the Capitol. Since it's the final eight now, they're doing interviews with family and friends tomorrow – and they want to talk to you too."

"Oh, okay then," I reply, not really sure what to say. I suppose I should've expected this, I am Katniss' best friend after all. "Maybe I'll see you in the square tomorrow night then, Peeta?"

Peeta nods, thanks me again and lets himself out.

I can barely bring myself to watch the review of the Games tonight. After watching Katniss' ordeal live this morning, then recounting it to Peeta, I already feel emotionally drained without having to watch it again! However, the show is compulsory viewing and I don't want to get on the wrong side of the Capitol, especially since I'll be being interviewed by one of them tomorrow.

I was interested to see how the careers managed to find Katniss. I know they had a couple of pairs of night-vision glasses, which definitely would've helped them to see her in the dark, but that still didn't really explain how they knew exactly where to look for her. Even I sometimes have trouble tracking Katniss through the woods, and she's a lot less careful when we're in ourwoods. There were a few times when the editing seemed to cut out a chunk of the careers' conversation, but I don't know if that was anything to do with Katniss or not.

After the compulsory viewing, still none the wiser, I lie down on the settee and turn to the live coverage. Later, when anthem plays and Cato's face appears in the sky, the three remaining careers look at each other in shock and horror. Clove looks like she might start crying, though I can't quite believe this since she seems completely heartless to me. Marvel actually looks quietly pleased and I can understand why – Cato was the strongest of the group; now Marvel is in charge and also won't have to face Cato when the careers eventually decide to disband.

Unfortunately, the fact that they now know Cato to be dead means that they know Katniss is still alive, and injured. Although, if they think she's taken down two of the careers, I hope that they decide not to go after her again.


	14. Chapter 14

_14: Day 7; Family and Friend's Interviews_

_Gale_

The night passes uneventfully; none of the tributes even wake up during the night. Since the interviews will be aired tonight there will be less time for the Games review this evening, so the Gamemaker's probably won't throw anything at the tributes today. This is particularly good news for Katniss as it gives her another day to recover.

When I wake up, I'm pleased to see that Katniss is already awake and seems a lot more lucid than she did last night. She still doesn't remember the careers' attack at all, which worries me, but she's sitting up, eating breakfast and chatting with Rue and Steffi. Well, mostly Rue – Steffi is still not himself.

My Mum comes into the living room and informs me that I am supposed to go to the Everdeens' house at ten for my interview. It's only seven now, so I decide to spend some time in the woods and check the snares I set on Saturday. In this hot weather, anything that's been caught needs to be collected as soon as possible so that it doesn't spoil.

An hour and a half later, I have relieved the snares of four rabbits. Not as much as I was hoping for, but sufficient.

At home, I decide to have a bath. I'm sure the snobs in the Capitol have hot running water and can have a bath every day, but here in District Twelve, we have to heat up our own water, so I set a pot of water on the stove. After my bath, I shave and change into the smartest clothes I own before heading over to Katniss' house. I take two of the rabbits from this morning with me, feeling a bit guilty that I didn't have time to skin and clean them for Mrs Everdeen.

I knock on the door and am startled when it flies open, revealing a woman in a garish lime-green trouser suit and a huge puffy yellow wig. Presumably, this woman will be interviewing us.

"And this must be Mr Hawthorne!" she exclaims in her awful Capitol accent. "Come in young man!"

I find it rather strange that this woman who doesn't actually live hereis inviting me inside, and it's rather patronising to call me "young man" when she can't be more than three years older than me. I follow her anyway, quickly stashing my (illegally hunted) rabbits behind the armchair as I go past.

Prim and Mrs Everdeen are sat side by side on their little settee; a camera, manned by an unattractive blue-skinned man, is trained on them. Prim is wearing the same dress she wore for the Reaping and has her hair in two braids. Mrs Everdeen looks very uncomfortable at the presence of these strange creatures from the Capitol invading their home – can't say I blame her.

"So, lets get started!" the interviewer screeches, clapping her hands in mock excitement. "Primrose, darling, why don't you go first?"

_Prim_

When Mum got the message yesterday that we would be interviewed, she sat me down and explained that I have to be careful what I say. I'm not allowed to say anything bad about the Games or the Capitol or the President, and I definitely shouldn't mention that Katniss and Gale hunt illegally in the woods outside the District.

The interviewer, Junia, and cameraman, Lazarus, arrived early this morning to "prepare" us for the interview, which meant setting up the camera and generally invading our privacy. She made me change out of my normal clothes into the dress I wore for the Reaping last week.

When Gale knocks on the door, Mum gets up to answer it but before she can, Junia is already there, greeting Gale and inviting him inside. I can feel the anger radiating from Mum at this woman, so I am glad when Junia wants to talk to me first instead of her.

Junia sits in the armchair, making it look even more drab and old compared to her bright clothing and perfectly straight, white teeth. Lazarus counts down from five and then starts the camera rolling.

"Hello Panem! I'm Junia Goldsmith and I'm here in the _lovely_ District Twelve to interview the family and friends of everyone's favourite Girl on Fire, Katniss Everdeen!" She grins in mock excitement and turns to me.

"So, Primrose. As we all know, you're Katniss' little sister and aren't you just _adorable_! How does it feel to know that your sister is in the final Eight tributes?" Junia asks.

"I'm proud of her, I guess. For surviving,"

"Of course you are, darling," she says in a patronising voice, patting my on the shoulder, "You certainly should be proud that your sister is such a strong contender! Now, your name was actually drawn at the Reaping, wasn't it? How did you feel when your sister volunteered? Were you jealous that she stole all the glory?"

"What? Of course not..." I say, without thinking. Why would I be jealousthat my sister took my place in the Hunger Games?

Then I realise that, for the Capitol, entering the Games is a great honour that everyone should aspire to, so I change my answer. "I mean... I'm glad she volunteered because she's much stronger than I am and... she has a much better chance of winning than I would have."

In truth, I was devastated when Katniss took my place, I felt so guilty and I miss her terribly. But I can't say that, because that's not what the Capitol wants to hear. It is true that she has a much better chance than I ever would have.

"Of course, sweetie. So, if you could send a message to your sister right now, what would you say?"

"I'd say that I love her and that I want her to come home soon" I say, truthfully this time.

Junia grins her scary, white-toothed grin at me and then turns her attention to my Mum. She asks some questions about what Katniss was like as a child and asks then the same question she asked me: "What message would you give to Katniss?"

"I'd tell her that I'm proud she really is her Father's daughter," Mum says, enigmatically. Junia looks like she wants to ask a follow-up question, but evidently doesn't have the time, so she looks to Gale, who is staring at her with thinly-veiled hostility.

_Gale_

I can tell that Prim and Mrs Everdeen were censoring their answers for the Capitol audience. I don't want to have to do that; I want to scream and shout and tell everyone about how awful and unfair and evil the Hunger Games are; how cruel it is that nice kids like Steffi can be forced to become murders at the age of thirteen; how despicable it is to act as though it's honourable and desirable to be a tribute. But, I don't want anything to happen to Katniss because of me, so I try to hold back my disgust at this yellow-haired woman.

"This is Gale Hawthorne, Katniss' best friend," she explains to the camera before turning to me, "Gale, how did you meet Katniss?"

"We go to the same school and we live in the same neighbourhood. Also, my brother is friends with her sister" I say, which is technically true but ommits one major aspect of our friendship; I can't tell her that we hunt together, because it's illegal.

"Wonderful! And how did you feel when she volunteered for her sister?"

"How do you _think _I felt?" I reply, glaring at her, unable to hold back – I can't tell her that I was proud or excited, because I wasn't. The only emotions I felt were anger and fear. Junia swiftly moves on to the next question.

"What do you think of Katniss' lucky escape yesterday?"

I think about it for a minute, replaying yesterdays events in my head. "I'm just so glad she's okay," is all I can say. Junia looks unimpressed with my short answers, so she changes the subject again.

"Well, Katniss is a very beautiful and strong young woman, do you think she has any _admirers _here in District Twelve?" she asks, waggling her eyebrows at the camera.

"I'm sure she does," I say. I really don't want to admit my feelings about her on national television, only an idiot would do that.

"Ooh, anyone in particular spring to mind?" Junia presses

"I think there are some guys from school who like her," I reply, trying to dodge the question.

Again, Junia looks annoyed that I'm not giving her the answer she wants. "Nobody... closer to home?"

"Not that I can think of," I say firmly. The woman frowns at me, clearly realising that she's not getting anything else from me. Finally, she asks me the same question she asked Prim and Mrs Everdeen – presumably the question they ask to everyone.

"If you could send a message to Katniss right now, what would you say?"

"I would tell her to remember all the people she's fighting to get home to. I would tell her that I believe in her and that I _(love her) _miss her."

"Lovely!" she exclaims again, turning to look directly into the camera now, "I'm sure we're all rooting for Katniss, the Girl on Fire! This is Junia Goldsmith, signing off from District Twelve!"

_Peeta_

The compulsory viewing starts earlier tonight than usual, to make time for the interviews which come afterwards, so I don't have time to go to the bakery after school. Instead, I have a rushed dinner at home and head straight to the square. For the first time, Gale is there before I am, and I go to stand beside him.

"How was the interview?" I ask him.

"I'll tell you after I've seen it," he replies, sounding quite tense.

The Games coverage is quite slow. The careers decided to rest for the day, to regroup after the loss of Cato and to come up with a new plan. Thankfully, they decide not to go after Katniss again for now – they want to go after Thresh while they're still together.

Rue spent the day collecting food for her, Katniss and Steffi, while the former rested and the latter sorted through their supplies. Thresh and the girl from district 5 – Vivra, I learned her name was, not Foxface, as Katniss calls her – continued doing what they've been doing all along: keeping themselves to themselves.

After the short update came the interviews, which lasted about fifteen minutes for each tribute.

As always, the parents of the career tributes were as arrogant as their children and boasted about the honour which would be brought to their district when – not if – their children win. I find it strange that the parents of all three careers are so confident, when only one can win. I was a little surprised to learn that the boy from One, Marvel, has a girlfriend back home; I always thought that careers just trained for the Games and didn't have time for anything else.

Vivra's family all look very much alike: foxy faces with clever eyes and red hair. Her older sister was interviewed first; she explained that her sister has always been intelligent and sly and seemed really impressed that she's managed to steal food from the careers for so long without them noticing. Indeed, the girl has even learnt how to dodge the landmines set up by the boy from Three.

Thresh's family consists of two people: his Grandmother and his sister, both of whom are as stoic and reluctant to talk as Thresh was during his own interview. Although they don't go as far as to only answer in single words, they certainly aren't talkative, and their interviews are much shorter than the others'.

Rue has five younger brothers and sisters, but they only interview one of them because the rest are too young to know what's going on, really. The girl is nine years old and looks just like Rue; she talks about how happy she is that Rue has got friends in the arena: Katniss and Steffi. She says that she hopes Rue comes home soon because she misses hearing her sing.

Steffi's Mother looks on the brink of tears throughout the interview. His Father, a coal miner from the Seam, holds her hand and tells the interviewer about what a happy boy Steffi isand that they can't wait for him to come home. The way he speaks tells me that he's already given up hope of their happy son returning home. Even if Steffi survives, he won't be the same.

Prim and Mrs Everdeen are interviewed about Katniss. It's nice to hear Mrs Everdeen talk about Katniss' childhood, but I notice that they miss out any reference to her hunting, which is ridiculous because that's what makes her, her. Gale comes across as quite dark and brooding, which I think the folks in the Capitol will love. I can tell that the interviewer is trying to push him into talking about Katniss' love life. He doesn't give any straight answers, but the editing of the interview certainly gives the impression that Gale and Katniss are in a relationship. I don't really know how to feel about it – if the Capitol wants Gale and Katniss to appear to be in a relationship, maybe I really don't have a chance with her after all.

_A/N: I know I say it every time, but again, sorry for the delay! I haven't had internet for a few days and also I was a bit side-tracked by a oneshot I was writing and have now posted. Hope you liked the interviews :) sorry there was no Games in this chapter!_


	15. Chapter 15

_15: Day 8_

_Peeta_

Gale stormed off right after the interviews were shown last night. I can tell he was really angry at the way he was portrayed in his interview, but I don't really understand why. They edited it to make it look like Gale was in love with Katniss which somehow pissed him off. But he _is _in love with Katniss, so I don't really understand why it's a problem. If anything, I should be the one who's angry – I love her too, and I didn't even get an interview!

I've got into the habit of watching the Games in the square with Gale, but he's not there tonight. I really hope that this doesn't mean something bad has happened. When Katniss was injured he came to find me to tell me, which I really appreciated. I usually get the impression that Gale just puts up with me – he's definitely not the friendliest person – but maybe he likes spending time with me more than he lets on. On the other hand, he does seem to have a tendency towards mood swings, so who knows what he would do if something bad happened again.

To my relief, it's clear that Katniss is much better today. She still doesn't remember Cato's attack, but her wounds are getting better and are not infected, thanks to the tablets. She is able to get up, but can't walk for long without stopping and needing to rest. They decide to return to the cave where Steffi and Rue had sheltered before. Although it is hard to defend from within, Rue argues that the three of them can take turns to keep watch at night, so that they can defend themselves from attackers.

Although the cave is only a few kilometres away, it takes them hours to reach it thanks to Katniss' injury. She walks slowly, constantly stumbles over rocks and fallen branches, and has to rest every half hour or so. I can tell that she hates holding the others back this way; she's not used to being dependent on others and more than once she tells them to go on without her.

As they walk, the small group devise a plan to attack the careers' supplies. Katniss rightly points out that the careers do a lot worse in years where they don't get enough supplies from the Cornucopia. Rue volunteers to spy on the careers, to scope out their camp and work out how they might be able to carry out their plan.

I think that it's a good idea, to destroy the careers' supplies, until I remember the way the careers have protected their supplies. The young boy from three, who ended up killed a few days ago, set up landmines so that anyone who tries to approach the supplies will be blown to the heavens.

His biggest mistake was showing the careers how to activate and deactivate the mines, so that they can get to the supplies themselves. If he had kept this a secret, he would've been indispensible to them, and might not have been killed so remorselessly.

Once they reach the cave, there are still many hours of daylight left, so Rue decides to head to the careers camp to begin her spying. Steffi doesn't seem keen on this idea – he wants to go with Rue to make sure she's safe, but she points out that he'd just hold her back; she's much faster swinging through the trees than walking on the ground with him. Steffi stays behind to look after Katniss.

Rue is incredibly adept at getting through the forest; she reaches the careers camp in under an hour, when it would be at least a two hours on foot.

When she returns to the cave, she tells Katniss and Steffi what she saw: the careers have all the supplies in a big pile, about thirty metres away from the lake. Katniss seems surprised that all the supplies have been left out in the open like that; I really hope she will work out that it's a trap before someone gets hurt. Together, they devise a plan.

_Day 9_

_Steffi_

Katniss stays in the cave today while Rue and I set up fires in three different locations around the arena. Part of our plan involves Rue setting these fires as a diversion but there won't be much time, so we need to set up the fires in advance. It's tiring work but having Rue with me makes the time go much more quickly. We talk about life in our districts and about our families. Rue is the oldest child, just like I am.

We prepare the fires and collect some food for dinner, before heading back to the cave, where the three of us eat a dinner of groosling, berries and roots. We decide to carry out our plan tomorrow. Well, Katniss decides we should carry out our plan tomorrow. She has been taking her tablets for three days and her injuries are healing up quite well. She can walk a bit now, but is not that steady on her feet. Still she is really keen to take down the careers' supplies as soon as possible, so we don't argue when she says she's fine.

Rue takes the first watch tonight. Katniss falls asleep almost instantly, even though she's been resting in the cave all day! Although I'm really tired, I just can't sleep. I know when I fall asleep, I'll be plagued by horrible nightmares where the careers are chasing me and I can't get away.

I give up trying to sleep and crawl out of the cave towards Rue, who sits huddled under a blanket staring into the darkness. I stand on a twig and the snap startles her; she has incredibly quick reflexes and before I know it, there's a slingshot aimed in my direction. When she realises it's just me, she lowers the weapon and smiles her beautiful smile.

"Hey Steffi, what are you doing out here? Your watch doesn't start for hours." She whispers

"I can't sleep... too many thoughts in my head I guess. Is it okay if I sit out here with you for a while?"

"Of course!" she says, shuffling over to make room for me under the blanket. "What's on your mind?"

"I don't really want to talk about it..." I reply, sitting down and pulling some of the blanket over myself.

"That's okay," she says kindly, "I'm here if you do want to talk, though." To my surprise, she slips her little warm hand into mine and laces our fingers together. I squeeze her hand and she squeezes mine back, then leans her head on my shoulder.

A few minutes later I notice that Rue is sniffling a little, I think she might be crying.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask

She sniffs again and looks up at me, her eyes glassy, "I'm scared".

I let go of her hand and put my arm around her shoulders.

"Me too."


	16. Chapter 16

_16: Day 10_

_Steffi _

Our plan is fairly simple. Rue will light a smoking fire, drawing the careers away from their camp. Meanwhile, I will enter the careers camp and grab as many useful supplies as I can. From her scouting yesterday, Rue told us that the careers' supplies contained a lot of drums, one of which probably contains cooking oil or some kind of fuel. I need to find one of those. Then I will pile up anything flammable I can find – clothing, wood, bandages – douse it with the oil, set up a fuse using the bale twine from Katniss' pack and set fire to the end of it, using it as a slow fuse. With any luck, by the time the fuse reaches the supplies, sending them up in flames, we'll have had time to get away from there before the careers see the fire and return.

Katniss plans to climb a high tree and keep lookout, while I enter the camp. We've organised a signal for her to use if she sees the careers returning, or senses any other kind of danger. I'm not sure how high she'll be able to climb with her injured leg holding her back – she can walk on it now but not for very long, and she certainly can't run. Still, any height she can get will give her a better vantage point than I will have from the ground.

We take a while packing up our stuff. We plan to return to this cave after destroying the supplies, but it's still better to bring everything with us, just in case.

Rue tells me to take Cato's sword with me, in case I bump into anyone. The way she hesitates when she says me this makes me realise that "bump into" actually means "get into a fight to the death with". The fact that three of our five rivals are careers and the fourth is a hulking wall of muscle about five times my size surprisingly doesn't make me feel any better.

I don't want to take the sword with me; it's just a reminder of what I've done. Besides, it's too big and unwieldy for me and I have no idea how to handle it anyway, so it's not like I could do any real damage to anyone with it. The only reason I was able to … do _that_... to Cato was because he was knocked unconcious at the time. Katniss suggests that I take the knife from her pack instead and she takes the sword. I can tell she's not happy with having lost her bow. She still has the arrows, though, which is reassuring – at least nobody else can use the bow against us without those.

We only have two backpacks: Katniss' and Glimmer's. Since Katniss is already held back by her leg, we decide that she shouldn't have to carry a pack as well. She takes the sword and what looks like a pair of sunglasses, which are apparently night-vision glasses, according to Rue. Rue also makes sure that Katniss takes the canister containing the remaining tablets, which Katniss sticks in her jacket pocket.

I take Katniss' bag containing the twine and matches, which I'll need to carry out my part of the plan. Also, the bag gives me somewhere to stash any supplies that I choose to bring with me from the career camp. I also take two-thirds of our food supply because Katniss and I will be travelling together to the career camp, and will be making it away together afterwards, so I carry her share of the food as well as my own.

Rue takes the other backpack, which used to belong to Glimmer, with the remaining food, half the matches, some medical supplies and her slingshot.

We set off as early as we can, to give Rue time to get far enough away to light the fires. After a few hours of walking, at a slow pace for Katniss, we split up. Rue hugs us both as she heads away from us towards the fires she set up yesterday. I want to say something to her, thank her for everthing she's done for me, but my tongue doesn't want to move, so I just settle for hugging her tightly and kissing her cheek.

About an hour later, Katniss and I reach the edge of the woods; the Cornucopia is in our sights and we can see the huge pile of supplies – the careers really have made it easy for us to destroy, piling it all up like that!

Katniss climbs a tall tree and we both wait until we see smoke on the horizon. It's time to go.

_Gale_

My Mum makes me go to school today. I personally don't care if I get in trouble; the District's Peacekeepers have turned a blind eye to my hunting for years, so I don't think they'll care if I miss one day of school, but she insists.

Katniss, Steffi and Rue are implementing their plan today, to burn the careers' supplies. However, they don't know about the land mines burried around the supplies. I know Steffi is planning to approach the pile of supplies, not Katniss, so at least I know she will be safe from the blast, but I can only hope that she figures it out before any of them get hurt.

The beginning of the lunchtime broadcast coincides with Katniss and Steffi reaching the edge of the forest. Katniss climbs a tree to keep lookout; I can tell that her leg is causing her problems. Someone else probably wouldn't notice it, but I've seen her climb trees a hundred times before.

A short while later, Rue reaches the site of the first fire, sets it, and smoke starts to rise. The careers quickly spot the smoke and head off towards it, leaving the supplies unguarded. I hope that this might give Katniss a clue that the supplies are protected another way.

Once the careers are out of sight, Steffi readies himself to approach the pile of supplies. He's stopped when Vivra rushes out towards the pile instead. As I've seen her done before, she maneuvers herself gracefully around the landmines. Again, I hope this might help Katniss to understand how the supplies are protected. At one point, she slips and lets out a high-pitched squeaking sound as her hands hit the ground. For a split-second, I wish that she would set off the mines, so that Steffi and Katniss won't be in danger. I instantly feel disgusted with myself. She regains her footing and and grabs some items from the pile.

Before I know it, Steffi is headed towards the pile of supplies – they still haven't worked out that it is surrounded by mines. I clench my fists and will Katniss to work it out. Steffi is only a few metres away from the pile when Katniss finally makes the connection, the camera cuts to her horrified face as she whispers to herself "It's mined".

She calls out to Steffi to stop, but I fear it might be too late...


	17. Chapter 17

_17: Day 10 (part II)_

_Steffi_

Our plan is working better than I expected. The careers must be pretty stupid, since they left their supplies completely unguarded! I'm taken a little by surprise when the girl from District five – Foxface, as Katniss calls her – runs out of the woods right by me. Luckily she doesn't see me and is gone in just a few seconds, leaving the supplies once again unguarded and ready for me to destroy.

I approach the supplies cautiously at first but soon pick up the pace when it's clear that nobody is around. Then I hear Katniss shout something.

"STOP!"

I only just hear her; I didn't realise how far away her lookout tree was. She definitely told me to stop, so I do so – she's the lookout after all. She calls out again.

"It's fine! It's fine!" she shouts. Why would she tell me to stop and then say it's fine?

"What?" I shout back, looking for some explanation.

She starts to climb down the tree. As she reaches the bottom, a cannon goes off, signaling a death in the arena. My first thought is of Rue, she's out there, possibly being chased by the careers, what if that cannon was hers?

I take a step back to turn around and see whether I can see any sign of what might have happened.

_Katniss_

I _knew_ there was something suspicious about the way the careers were happy to leave the supplies unguarded; my suspicions were confirmed by Foxface's little dance around the pile and her reaction when she slipped. Somehow, the careers managed to reposition the landmines in order to protect their supplies.

My plan sent Steffi heading straight for them.

"Steffi! Stop!" I had shouted, desperately trying to get his attention. He didn't seem to hear me, and continued walking towards the pile.

"STOP!" I shouted again, louder. He heard me this time and turned around to look in my direction, standing literally a few metres from where I estimate the mines to be planted.

"It's mined! It's mined!"

"What?" He frowned at me, evidently unable to hear what I said. Thankfully he didn't move any closer to the supplies. I needed to get closer to explain to him. I managed to climb down the tree, with difficulty – my stupid leg making everything so much harder, not to mention the fact that I have to lug Cato's huge sword around with me.

Seconds after I'd reach the bottom of the tree, a cannon fires. It made me jump and I instinctively looked towards Steffi to make sure he's okay, just in time to see him take a step backwards.

For a moment, everything seems frozen in time – like he's moving in slow-motion. Then his foot hits the ground.

_Gale_

The sound is deafening when the landmine explodes. The first blast shakes the pile of supplies, causing a few objects to fall, detonating four or five other mines.

For what seems like hours, but is in reality only a few seconds, the screen shows nothing but smoke and ash. As it settles, it's clear that there's no way Steffi could have survived the explosion. Where he had stood is now nothing but a smoking crater.

It takes a minute or so for us to really realise what just happened. Then someone at the back of the hall starts crying, and suddenly all hell breaks loose.

There are many emotions in my head at this moment but most overwhelmingly, I feel anger. Anger with the Capitol for allowing this to happen; anger with myself for being too cowardly to volunteer to take his place to go there with Katniss.

I don't care about watching the rest of the programme; I don't even care if I get whipped for leaving school. I just turn on my heel and storm out of the building towards the woods. Both hands are clenched in fists at my sides, the nails digging into my palms. I hear footsteps behind me, someone shouting my name, but I don't care who it is.

When I reach the forest, I take my anger out on the closest tree, pulling at the branches and hitting the trunk. My knuckles are scratched and bleeding but I don't even feel the pain. I shout into the woods, cursing the Capitol and the Games. My shouting startles a flock of birds, which fly off into the sky and I shout at them too, jealous that they can go where they want and be free when I can't. I pull at my own hair and scratch at my face and arms, desperate to feel something other than anger and helplessness.

I don't even realise I've dropped to my knees until I feel a hand on my shoulder. I half expect it to be a Peacekeeper, come to arrest me for skipping school. But it's not a Peacekeeper, of course, it's Peeta.

_Peeta_

Steffi was a sweet kid. He was only thirteen years old and he didn't deserve to be placed into an arena and forced to fight to the death. He didn't deserve to be made into a murderer and to spend his last few days full of remorse for killing another human being. Most of all, he didn't deserve to be killed.

We were watching the broadcast at school when it happened, which made everything even worse because I know all Steffi's friends were there. I caught Gale leaving the school hall and saw the murderous, angry look on his face. I inwardly argued with myself for a minute, whether it was a good idea to go after Gale to calm him down, or whether he'd just attack me. I decided to follow him.

I even followed him into the forest, where I'd never been before. I was surprised by how beautiful and wild it is out in the forest; I can understand why Katniss and Gale spend so much time out here.

For a while, I watch Gale as he tears the branches off a tree, crying and yelling out things which would get him executed if someone from the Capitol overheard him. It's definitely a bad idea to approach him when he's behaving like that. After a while, he stops his tirade and starts muttering to himself instead, scratching at his arms and falling to his knees on the forest floor. I finally decide it's safe to approach him, and I gently place my hand on his shoulder.

My presence seems to pull him out of his fit a little; he shifts from his knees and sits down more comfortably on dried leaves of the forest floor, head in his hands. I sit down next to him and we just sit in silence for a long time, listening to the sounds of the creatures in the woods and the wind rustling the leaves.

Eventually, Gale breaks the silence.

"It's not fair," he says

"I know," I reply, not knowing what else to say.

A few minutes later, he speaks again, "Someone should do something."

Again, I don't know how to respond. I think I know what he means by "do something" - that the people of Panem should do something to stop the Capitol from treating us this way.

"_We _should do something," he says when I don't respond.

"There's nothing we can do, Gale. We'd be executed straight away if we even thought about it. District Twelve can't do anything."

He's silent again, for longer this time.

"When she gets out of there, I'm going to do something." he says. With that revelation, he stands up and starts walking back in the direction of the fence. I stumble to my feet and follow after him, grabbing his arm to stop him from getting too far ahead – I'd never find my way home if I couldn't follow him.

_A/N: Oh my goodness, killing Steffi was so hard! I hadn't originally planned for him to last this long but I got rather attached to the little guy and his relationship with Rue. Sorry Steffi fans!_


	18. Chapter 18

_18: Day 10 (Part III): _

_Katniss_

The blast blows me backwards onto the hard ground, knocking the wind out of me and sending a sharp pain through my wounded leg. Thick smoke fills the air and I struggle to breath; I also seem to be having trouble hearing properly – just a ringing in my ears.

Then, the panic starts to set in. I roll onto my side and see the wreckage of the careers' supplies, the smoking crater where Steffi had been standing just moments ago. I don't hear the cannon but I know he's gone.

Thinking about the cannon doubles my panic. There had been a cannon just seconds before the landmines detonated. What if it had been for Rue? An hour ago, I had two allies here with me, am I alone now?

The ringing in my ears continues and when I tentatively touch my hand to the side of my head, it comes away covered in blood. I wonder if I have gone deaf from the explosion; the throught terrifies me. I know I have to get out of here. The careers will no doubt have heard the explosions and will be making a beeline for the place. I try to stand, but the dizziness and the pain from my leg make it impossible. I manage to crawl very slowly, dragging my injured leg behind me.

I've just made it to the shelter of a cluster of bushes when the careers return – well, one of them: Clove. I guess they sent her to investigate the explosion, but it does make me wonder where the others are. She circles the remainder of the supplies from a distance before settling down by the lake and sharpening her knives menacingly.

I don't know how long I lay in the bushes, alternating my gaze between Clove and the spot where I had last seen Steffi. Silent tears fall down my face as I think of Steffi, who reminded me so much of Gale's younger brothers. I also cry for Rue – I'm convinced that the earlier cannon was for her. I won't be able to forgive myself if my plan got both of them killed; if only I had waited until my leg was better, I might've reached Steffi sooner

As night falls, I take the tablet for my leg, shuffling the canister out of my pocket as quietly as I can. I have to swallow the tablet dry, since all my water and food supplies were in Steffi's backpack. I don't feel hungry, just empty and numb but I chew on a few leaves from the bushes surrounding me, because I know I have to eat something. Shortly, I see the Seal light up the sky, although I can't hear the anthem play.

The first face to appear is that of the girl from district Four – one of the careers. I almost cry out with happiness that it's not Rue, until I remember that a cannon could've gone off since the explosion – with my damaged hearing, I wouldn't have known – so it's still possible that Rue has been killed. I wonder what happened to the career girl?

But the next face to appear is Steffi. He looks so different: younger and happier, in the picture than he ever did in the arena, especially since he killed Cato. I think about his young brothers and sisters back in district Twelve; did they rely on him they way Prim relies on me?

Then the Seal reappears; those are all the deaths from today. Rue is still out there, I wonder if she's made it back to the cave. Is she worried about me, now that she knows I'm still alive? Perhaps she is too distraught over Steffi's death to care about me; I know the two of them were very close.

Not long after nightfall, Marvel returns to the careers camp. He and Clove have a short conversation – I try to lip-read what he's saying, but it's impossible from this distance – before retreating into a tent to sleep, while Clove takes watch. It's not long before I fall into a restless sleep myself, cold and alone.

_Rue_

Night is falling and Steffi and Katniss still haven't returned, which makes me rather worried. However, I refuse to accept that the cannon I heard earlier today was for one of them.I sit alone in the dank cave which had become our home over the past few days, chewing on a stale cracker which I found in the bottom of my backpack and thinking over the days events.

I had lit the first fire without a problem. There was no sign of anyone following me and I had been pleased with how well it had been going. I'd almost reached the site of the second fire when the cannon sounded. I stopped in my tracks and span around, trying to see if there was anyone nearby. Less than a minute later, I heard a loud booming noise coming from the direction of the lake.

I didn't let myself think that the cannon could be for Katniss or Steffi. I had a job to do – light the fires and return to the cave.

Once the final fire was lit, I headed in the direction of the cave. I'd had a strange feeling that someone had been following me, between the second and last sites, so I decided to take to the trees for my return to the cave – I was much quicker this way and didn't leave a trail for others to follow.

I was first to reach the cave, which wasn't so surprising. Katniss would be slowed down by her injuries and Steffi might be carrying a lot of supplies. Since then, I've been sitting here, staring into space, waiting for them to return.

The sound of them anthem playing startles me; I hadn't realised how late it was. When the career girl's face lights up the sky, I feel relieved that the cannon was for neither of my allies. My relief is shortlived when a second face appears; I don't even remember hearing a second cannon. When I see Steffi's face illuminated in the sky, the dam breaks and tears flood my eyes.

Over the past few days, I had come to regard Katniss and Steffi as my friends and I had almost let myself forget where we were. Somewhere in my head a little voice tells me that I should've seen this coming – only one of us can survive, and Steffi was never a strong candidate. This doesn't help me feel better; if anything making me cry even harder. I curl up inside a sleeping bag and cry myself to sleep, feeling more alone than ever.

_Gale_

My anger at the Capitol has not dissipated at all by the time I return home, but I am at least able to keep myself under control in front of my family. My short talk with Peeta has made me realise that I can't just sit back and watch this happen any more – something has to be done.

Of course, there's nothing I can do alone. I have no money, no social status, no influence; the Capitol could wipe me out in an instant and nobody would even know.

As I watch the Games this evening, see the reply of Steffi's sudden death and how it affects Katniss and Rue, I start to think of ways in which I could do something against the Capitol. But first, I need to find some others who feel the same way.

_A/N: I hope you're all enjoying the faster updates – three in one week! I've got internet at home now, which makes it a lot easier! _

_I would really, REALLY appreciate some feedback, in the form of reviews or PMs. I have an idea where the story is going but I'd love to hear what you think so far, what you would change and what you would like to see in upcoming chapters! Or any other comments you'd like to make – I'd just really like to hear from you! :)_


	19. Chapter 19

_19: Day 11_

_Peeta_

The morning at school goes by so slowly today. The whole school – in fact, the whole district – is subdued after losing Steffi yesterday. You might think that we would be used to it by now, since two children from the district suffer the same fate every year, but you'd be wrong. Nothing can ever prepare you for seeing someone you know die. In fact, it was even worse this year because Steffi had been doing so well! It's not often that district Twelve tributes make it to this late stage of the Games and I think everyone had been given some false hope – they were starting to believe he might make it.

However, hope of a district Twelve victor is not lost – Katniss is still going strong. The lunchtime update shows that she spent most of the morning making her way back to the cave, where Rue is waiting for her. Following the explosion yesterday, she seems to have damaged her hearing somewhat – she keeps touching her left ear and looking around like she's disoriented. I really hope that her hearing is not permanently damaged – that kind of thing can be a big disadvantage in the arena.

Her leg still seems to be giving her trouble, perhaps from her falling onto it when the explosion went off. Still, she eventually manages to hobble to the cave and finds Rue. The two of them don't even exchange words when they're reunited. Katniss just puts her arms around Rue and the two of them just hold each other and sob over the loss of their ally.

From my seat at the back of the school hall, I can see many of the younger children – the ones who knew Steffi best – crying and hugging each other as well.

The rest of the school day passes in a similar fashion. At the end of the day, I want to get out of there as quickly as possible and get to the bakery to work and to take my mind off everything.

On my way out of the school building, I hear Gale calling my name, trying to get my attention, but I don't respond. His talk yesterday of us having to "do something" about the Capitol freaked me out a little bit. That kind of conversation is completely forbidden and I don't want to get caught up in something dangerous. We've all heard the stories of rebellious youths who mysteriously "disappeared" or whose families suddenly succumbed to some terrible illness that killed them all. I don't know if they're just rumours, or myths spread by the Capitol to prevent rebellion, but I sure don't want to find out for myself. When I look behind me a few minutes later I see, to my relief, that Gale doesn't seem to be following me.

For a few hours, I am able to lose myself in baking. I make loaves of my favourite type of bread, a hearty bread containing nuts and raisins, and some cookies. When I eventually look at the clock, I'm surprised to see how much time has passed – I need to start cleaning up to be done before the Games show begins tonight.

Once I've finished cleaning up, I look around the bakery to make sure none of my family are still around – my Mother would have a fit, if she knew what I was going to do. Since nobody is there, I wrap one of the fresh loaves of bread in brown paper, slip it into a bag and head out. I have about half an hour to spare before the programme is scheduled to begin – just enough time for what I'm planning.

I've only been into the Seam neighbourhood a handful of times. All the houses have a similar run-down look to them and are covered in the ever-present coal dust which gathers on every surface. However, it is not hard to find the house I'm looking for.

The tradition in District Twelve is that the home of a family in mourning is decorated with flowers. While the houses in the merchant part of town would usually be adorned with many beautiful flowers, Steffi's home has just a few scraggly bunches of wildflowers outside the door, presumably picked from the nearby meadow. Already, they're starting to wilt and become grey with coal dust.

I wonder who picked the flowers. Steffi's Mother, who is grieving the loss of her oldest child? His little sister, who will be eligible for the Reaping herself next year? His brothers, who are too young to even understand what's happening?

I approach the house with trepidation, not wanting to disturb the family, and place the new loaf of bread on the front doorstep. I knock quietly on the door and then run away before anyone opens it, hoping that they don't see me.

I reach the town square just in time for the beginning of the programme. As always, it begins with a recap of what happened the day before. Of course this means that they show Steffi's death again – I'm sure they show every death as many times as possible, just to upset people in the districts.

They also show the death of the girl from District Four, whose cannon was the indirect cause of Steffi's death, again. She, Marvel and Clove had been heading towards the first of Rue's fires when a snake had appeared out of nowhere and bitten her on the ankle. Her shriek had alerted Marvel to the danger; he beheaded the snake with a swift blow from his spear, but it was too late for the girl. Clove examined the dead snake and declared that it was poisonous, that she would die within minutes if not provided the antidote.

Unbelievably, instead of waiting with her as she succumbed to the poison, Clove and Marvel just left her there and continued walking, not wanting to lose track of whoever set the fire. By the time the parachute containing the antidote reached the girl, she was convulsing and bleeding from her nose and mouth, rendering her incapable of administering the antidote herself. As predicted by Clove, she died within minutes.

After the recap, the programme shows Katniss and Rue, who have stopped crying and are putting together some kind of dinner. Since most of their food was in Steffi's backpack and therefore destroyed, all they have left is a small amount of two-day-old groosling meat and some dried fruits. They also receive a sponsor parachute, containing two loaves of bread. I recognise the bread, of course – one is the crescent-shaped dark loaf from District Eleven, the other is the tessera-grain bread from here in District Twelve.

Clips of the two remaining careers show them rooting through their remaining supplies, trying to salvage anything useful. Vivra already picked over the supplies last night while Marvel and Clove were sleeping, taking a slightly charred sleeping bag, a knife and as much food as she could carry, leaving them with very little food, but still plenty of weapons. Luckily for Katniss, running low on food is a big problem for careers, since their training seems to be mostly in combat rather than survival.

Later, Rue decides to change the bandages on Katniss' leg. Luckily, Rue's backpack had contained most of the medical supplies, so they were still intact. When she unwraps the dirty bandages, I'm expecting the worst but Katniss' injury is looking a lot better than before. The jagged row of stitches seems to be holding together pretty well, and there don't seem to be any signs of infection, thanks to those tablets she was taking. Once the new bandages are in place, Katniss and Rue settle down to sleep and the programme ends

_A/N: A bit fillery, but something major will be revealed in the next chapter. Thanks to the people who reviewed last chapter, I really appreciate all the reviews I get. Thanks :)_


	20. Chapter 20

_20: Day 12_

_Gale_

I slept well last night for the first time in weeks, probably since before the Games began. For once, things seem to be going well for Katniss. She and Rue have a safe space; the careers don't know where they are, or that they were responsible for destroying some of their supplies, and the careers are at a disadvantage because they have very little food.

Yesterday, after school, I tried to talk to Peeta. If I'm serious about putting up a resistance to the Capitol, I need someone to talk to and he's as good as anyone. Obviously, I would prefer to talk to Katniss – she always knows exactly what to say to me – but that's impossible. Aside from Peeta, I really have nobody else to turn to. However, he either didn't hear me or chose to ignore me, so I decided to leave it for the time being.

Today is Saturday, so I need to spend the day hunting in the forest. What with all the goings-on in the Games, as well as drama happening here at home, I have been neglecting my hunting. The last two days, we've been surviving on boiled tessera grain and dried rabbit, which is disgusting at best! We need fresh meat and spending some time in the woods will probably do me good anyway.

It's been a few days since I checked the snares, so most of the game is inedible from sitting in the sun for too long, but I pick up two rabbits which look fine. I take Katniss' bow and arrows from it's hiding place in the hollow log. I feel bad using her weapon, when right now she needs it so much more than I do, but I have to feed my family somehow.

I'm not as talented as Katniss, but I manage to bag a couple of squirrels and a wild turkey as well as picking some greens and berries. Overall, I'm rather disappointed with my morning's work. On the way back to the fence, I pass a small pond and recognise the white katniss flowers. I remember Katniss showing me how to find the roots which grow in the mud beneath, and I spend over an hour digging up the blue-grey tubers. I also pick a few of the flowers and tuck them into my belt. Once my bag is filled with the tubers, as well as the small amount of game, I continue towards the fence.

It's a beautiful day, the sun shining and the birds singing in the trees. It's hard to appreciate the forest when there are so many other things going on but I let myself get lost in imagination for a while as I walk. I think of what it would be like to be free to live out here all the time, just Katniss and I. To not have to worry about our families starving, or about being Reaped, or about being whipped for hunting illegally.

I've never told Katniss about my feelings for her, of course. She isn't good at picking up hints and I honestly think she has no idea the way I feel. No matter how many times I try to flirt with her, or brush against her unnecessarily when we're hunting, she thinks I want to be just friends. When she returns – and she will return – I vow to tell her how I feel. I'll bring her out here, to _our _woods, and make her mine.

I'm so lost in my fantasy world that I don't even notice that I've already reached the fence surrounding the District. My first stop is Head Peacekeeper Cray's house; as I predicted, he is more than happy to buy the wild turkey from me and gives me a decent number of coins.

I decide to spend the money at the Hob, but keep the rest of the food rather than trade it away. After purchasing various useful items from around the market, I finish off at Greasy Sae's stall and buy a bowl of soup.

The last time I was here, everyone was avoiding my gaze and feeling sorry for me. That was back before the Games even began; it feels like months ago! Today, the atmosphere in the Hob is quieter than usual and everyone is a little subdued because the Games are still going on and we've lost one of our tributes now, but at least people aren't looking at me with pity anymore.

Once I finish my soup, Sae pulls me to one side to talk to me. She tells me that she has been collecting money to help sponsor Katniss in the Games; she's going to send the money to the sponsor fund in the morning. Apparently, most of the Hob's patrons, as well as Rooba the butcher, the baker and even the _mayor _have contributed! I give her the remains of the coins I was given by Cray and hug her to thank her for her kindness, she's always been kind to Katniss and I.

As I release her, I see her eyes dart down to the little posy of katniss flowers tucked into my belt.

"You know," she says, "I've seen the way you look at her. I always thought the two of you would get together eventually. When she gets back, I hope you'll show her how much she means to you."

I smile and nod, "I will, I promise."

If I'm going to take a stand against the Capitol, as I fully intend to, I can't do it alone. I briefly consider mentioning something to Sae, I'm sure she'd help me, but think better of it as I realise the public Hob is not the place to bring it up. Besides, I need to talk to Peeta first.

I take the squirrels and some of the katniss tubers to Mrs Everdeen and Prim. I promised Katniss I would look after them and I feel guilty that I haven't been doing that much, but they seem to be doing okay without me. I also give Mrs Everdeen the katniss flowers I picked. They're a bit wilted and sad-looking, from being tucked into my belt all this time, but she appreciates them and places them in a mug of water.

By the time I get home, I only have time to check up on what's happening to Katniss – she and Rue are hunting and gathering today, like me – and have a quick bath before dinner. My Mum roasts the two rabbits I snared, and serves them with some of the katniss tubers, boiled.

We eat in front of the television, as the compulsory programming is about to begin. The show is particularly short tonight. It shows the careers make some feeble attempts to set snares, which fall apart the instant any animal comes near. Marvel tries to throw a spear at a passing squirrel, which is ridiculous – even if he did hit it, the squirrel would be completely smashed by the huge spear and probably impossible to eat. Katniss and Rue, however, are faring much better. Using Rue's slingshot, they managed to kill some more groosling birds, gathered some nuts, roots and berries and even found a ground-bird nest full of eggs, which they cook on hot rocks for dinner.

The two of them are sitting side-by-side, talking about their favourite foods, when a fanfare of trumpets blasts out across the arena.

"Tributes! Congratulations on doing so well so far! This announcement is to invite you to a feast!" Claudius Templesmith announces with enthusiasm.

This seems like a strange time to hold a feast. The girl from District Five has plenty of food after she raided the blasted supplies, Thresh has been managing to find food for the last twelve days with no problem, and Rue and Katniss are able to hunt and catch anything they want. In fact, the only tributes who need food are the two careers, so why hold a feast now?

Perhaps the viewers in the Capitol might be getting bored. It's been two days since the last death and since then the remaining tributes have been doing very little. Maybe the Gamemakers are just trying to force something to happen and a feast is all they can think of.

"Now, some of you may already be declining my invitation, but this is no ordinary feast," Templesmith continues, "Each of you needs something desperately. You will find it in a backpack, marked with your district number, at the Cornucopia at dawn tomorrow. Think hard about refusing to show up. For some of you, this will be your last chance," he finishes.

It's true that Katniss does need something desperately. Apart from food, the only supplies she has left are a pair of night vision goggles and a sword which is too big to be useful. It's getting near the end; eventually she's going to have to fight it out with someone else and when that happens, she will need a proper weapon. She needs a bow and arrows.

They show each tribute's reaction to the feast announcement. The careers look thrilled – they probably can't wait for the chance to fight with the other tributes and prove themselves. Thresh and Vivra are both very hard to read. Thresh seems to have a look of slight surprise on his face, but it's hard to tell. I don't expect he will attend the feast at all; I can't think of anything he "desperately needs" anyway. Rue, frankly, looks terrified at the prospect of attending the feast. Katniss, however, looks determined. The two of them discuss whether it is a good idea to go or not, but I can tell she's already made up her mind. There's no way she's going to pass up the opportunity to get her hands back on a bow and arrows.

_A/N: Sorry for the delay. I got an idea for a one-shot story and found it really hard to write this, until I wrote that idea out of my head! I hope you think including the feast is a good idea!  
_

_I'm quite amazed that I've written 20 chapters of this already – I didn't know where this story was going when I started, but I think it's going well so far. I actually wanted to ask the reader's opinions – would you prefer short chapters, like these (1000-2000 words each) with quite regular updates? Or would you prefer longer chapters, but more infrequent updates? Thanks!_


	21. Chapter 21

_21: Day 13, The Feast_

_Peeta_

I'm up hours before dawn. I don't know why I even bothered going to bed – I hardly slept anyway. Teasing aside, my brother has been quite good to me since I told him about being in love with Katniss. Last night, he told me that he would take over my early morning shift at the bakery, so that I could watch the live coverage of the Games, because the feast is taking place this morning.

Luckily for me, my Mother tends to sleep in on a Sunday, so I'll be able to watch the television in privacy while my Father and brothers are working.

I'm not surprised to see that Katniss is going to the feast, although a large part of me hoped that she would decide not to go, to run as far as she could in the other direction. She and Rue are both crouching in a bush, looking out over the clearing which surrounds the Cornucopia. Marvel and Clove have split up and are standing amongst the trees on opposite sides of the clearing. Thresh, surprisingly, has emerged from the wheat field for the first time in the whole Games, but is waiting further from the clearing than the others. Vivra is nowhere to be seen; she's smart and she's probably decided to avoid the feast.

As dawn breaks, both here and at the arena, the mouth of the Cornucopia opens to reveal a round table, covered in a white tablecloth. Atop the table are five backpacks: two large black one with the numbers _1 _and _11-T_ on them, a medium-sized red one with a _2_ on it, a green one with a _5_ on it, a blue one with _11-R_ on it and the largest one, a triangular-shaped orange one with _12_ on it, for Katniss. The announcer explains that, since there are two district 11 tributes, the "_T_" and "_R_" stand for Thresh and Rue.

As soon as the table clicks into place, Vivra dashes out of the Cornucopia – evidently, she had been hiding inside – grabs the green backpack and is away before the others even realise what's happened.

Katniss is the next to emerge into the clearing, carrying Cato's sword. She leaves Rue behind though, perhaps planning to get the packs for both of them. Katniss is fast – faster than I expected on her still injured leg – but Clove is right on her heels.

She's only a few metres away from the table when Clove slams into her and knocks her down. Katniss quickly turns over, so she's lying on her back, before Clove pins her shoulders to the ground with her knees, and throws the sword out of reach.

"You killed my district partner, you bitch! You killed my Cato!" Clove snarls

"No I didn't! I was..."

"Yes you did," Clove interrupts "You know you did. Don't lie to me, Fire Girl," she sneers, "But don't worry, I got you back. Your cute little district partner – Stevie was it? – didn't stand a chance against me. I cut him up and he _screamed _for mercy."

"You liar!" Katniss yells, struggling under the weight of the other girl. "You weren't even there when Steffi died!"

Clove raises her eyebrows, apparently realising the implications of what Katniss just said. Now she knows Katniss was there when the bombs went off.

"Ah, so _you_ sent him in to get the supplies for you and got him blown to kingdom come. Nicely done, Fire Girl, I didn't think you had it in you!"

Clove opens her jacket, revealing a number of knives of varying sizes and shapes, every one of them sharp and deadly, "Lucky for me, these all survived intact. Now, let's give the audience a little show, shall we?" she says.

My hands are getting numb from clenching my fists so tight and my eyes are drying out because I can't bring myself to blink.

Suddenly, something barrels into Clove, knocking her off of Katniss.

"Rue! No!" yells Katniss, as the two girls roll over and over on the ground, both wrestling to end up on top. Rue's element of surprise, which was the only reason she overpowered Clove in the first place, is now gone and the older girl is quickly gaining the upper hand.

Meanwhile, Katniss darts to the table and opens the orange _12 _backpack. She fumbles with the zip but eventually manages to open it, revealing a golden bow and many arrows inside. By the time she's managed to pull the weapon out of the bag, Clove has overpowered Rue and is kneeling on her, in much the same way she had knelt on Katniss just moments before, holding a knife to the young girl's neck.

"That's fine little girl, I'll kill you and then go back for the Fire Girl, I'm not fussy."

Apparently Clove has forgotten about the packs and doesn't realise that Katniss is already preparing to shoot her.

_Rue_

Katniss had given me strict instructions to stay behind and not to approach the Cornucopia, but when I saw her completely at Clove's mercy, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. Before I even knew what I was doing, my legs had carried me halfway across the clearing.

I realised the flaw in this plan quite quickly when Clove overpowered me and I was in the exact same position Katniss had been in just seconds before. I closed my eyes and felt the cold metal of a knife pressed against my throat, felt tears running down my face, felt the pressure of her weight on top of me. Then, all of a sudden, the weight is gone.

I open my eyes tentatively, having no idea what to expect, and see Clove hanging a foot off the ground, held tightly in Thresh's arms.

Thresh looks from me, to Katniss, to Clove, who is wailing and struggling in his arms.

"Gonna cut this little girl up, were you?" Thresh says, menacingly, nodding his head in my direction.

"No! No! I wasn't!" Clove shouts, struggling even more, before screaming "Help!". Her blatant lie obviously doesn't fool him as, before I know it, he's smashed a rock into her skull and dropped her to the ground.

He turns and stares at Katniss and I. Katniss has her bow still raised, pointing at him, but she doesn't release the arrow. I'm still lying on the ground, looking up at the two of them, which is probably not the best idea in this situation, but my legs are shaking so hard I don't think I can actually stand.

If anything, Thresh looks even bigger than he did at the start of the Games. As his district partner, I know a little about him. He's big and scary-looking, but surprisingly kind; he looked after me when I was scared and alone after we were Reaped. He doesn't like to talk much, but he told me about his sister and how the two of them were brought up by his Grandmother; he told me he'd do anything to get back to them. I knew he could win the Games just on pure strength, but he was going to do it his own way and only kill when he had to, so I respected him for that.

"You're looking after this girl?" Thresh asks, referring to me again. Katniss nods, but still doesn't lower her bow.

A crashing sound from behind her distracts Katniss' attention – it's Marvel, blundering his way into the clearing, apparently having seen the kerfuffle or heard Clove's cries for help. Katniss spins round and fires an arrow in his direction, narrowly missing his shoulder. While she has her back turned, I half expect Thresh to bash her with the rock, but he doesn't – he grabs his pack from the table and takes off towards the wheat field. In a way, I think he was repaying Katniss for looking after me, since I am his district partner. In any case, I'm glad he let her be.

Katniss fires a second arrow in Marvel's direction and doesn't miss this time. It's a direct hit to his neck and he falls to the ground, a cannon sounding almost immediately. She turns on her heel and re-aims the bow where Thresh had been just moments before, looking surprised when she sees he's gone. It's just the two of us here now, feeling more-or-less safe.

Clove is still alive, though. I can hear her moaning and whimpering a few feet away – it sounds like she might be moaning Cato's name, although I can't be sure. I can't bring myself to look in her direction, knowing that I'll see the side of her head caved in where Thresh struck her. It's pretty clear, even to me, that she won't survive.

Katniss offers me her hand and helps me to my feet and eventually a second cannon sounds, indicating that Clove is gone. Before the hovercraft comes to take her, Katniss takes the knife out of Clove's hand and replaces it with Cato's sword. The knife will be a lot more useful to the two of us and the sword brings nothing but bad memories.

The two of us are both rattled by what just happened. In the space of only a few minutes, we've both endured very real threats of death and seen two more people die. Katniss seems to be more shocked by Thresh's behaviour than by the death of the two careers – I'm sure she expected him to turn on her and bash her head in with that rock too. I'm so glad he didn't.

The feast is over. I pick up the blue pack with _11-R _written on it, and Katniss takes the orange _12 _pack, even though she's already got hold of it's contents – the bow and arrow. We also take Clove and Marvel's packs. Katniss points out that they won't be using them now and they might contain something useful for us. Once we're a reasonable distance from the Cornucopia, so that the bodies can be collected, I open the pack to take a look at what the Gamemaker's decided I needed, and something else a little unexpected.

_A/N: This is Chapter 21. Chapter 21 in the book is the feast as well... weird! More people voted for short, frequent chapters, so that's what I'm going with. Reviews are very much appreciated, thank you! _


	22. Chapter 22

_22: Day 13 (Part II)_

_Katniss_

Rue lets out a little squeak of surprise and happiness when she opens her pack. My heart tightens for a second; she sounds exactly like Prim did when I gave her her goat, Lady. It makes me think that young girls really should be happy about birthday presents, friends and family and happy things, rather than weapons to be used in a deadly arena. The contents of the pack is a short-handled curved knife. A few years back, a young boy from Eleven did rather well with a similar weapon – I believe it's called a scythe. If I remember correctly, they use them for reaping some of the crops grown in district Eleven; from Rue's reaction, I assume she knows how to use it, anyway. The bag also contains some small, spiked metal balls, which are presumably to be used in her slingshot.

Her gifts will be useful but are quite expected, since weapons or armour are the only really useful things in the arena now. There will only be a few days now, so food or shelter won't make an awful lot of difference, unless that person is starving, which we're not.

However, there is another thing in her pack which is considerably more surprising. Once she's unpacked the whole bag, and is about to throw it to the ground, an envelope falls out of it. She picks it up and opens it, revealing two small slips of paper with writing on them. Her eyes widen and she lets out a little gasp as she reads what they say.

"They're messages," she explains, "messages from home."

It only takes me a fraction of a second to grasp her meaning and start frantically searching through my own pack, hoping to find a similar envelope with my name on it. I'm not disappointed. At the very bottom of the orange pack is my envelope, which I tear open and grab at the slips of paper, almost dropping them in my haste.

The first piece of paper has a name written at the top: Primrose Everdeen.

"_I'd say that I love her and that I want her to come home soon_" is all that is written on the slip, in a looping cursive script, which is not Prim's own handwriting. I wonder if these are quotes taken from interviews, or if they asked our families to write messages, or something else. A pessimistic voice in my head says they might not even be from our families, just made up by the Capitol to taunt us. All I know is that I've never seen tributes get messages from home into the arena before, this is completely unprecedented. I almost start to cry at the thought of those words from Prim, but I hold the tears back; I don't want to look weak in front of the Capitol.

The second slip has my Mother's name written at the top.

"I_'d tell her that I'm proud. She really is her Father's daughter._" is what she has to say.

It is good to know that my Mother and Sister are okay, that they are thinking of me. Thinking of my Father as well is almost the final straw – I nearly break down, right there in the arena. By this point, my eyes are so blurry from unshed tears that I can hardly read the third slip, which has Gale's name at the top.

"_I would tell her to remember all the people she's fighting to get home to. I would tell her that I believe in her and that I miss her_."

All the people I'm fighting to get home to.

Not just Prim and my Mother, although they're at the forefront of my mind, but all the others I've taken for granted over the years. Madge Undersee, the Mayor's daughter, who sat with me in school even when nobody else would. Greasy Sae, who always treated Gale and I like we were part of the family and could somehow cook anything into a delicious soup. The baker, who gave me cookies after I was reaped and offered to look after Prim. Even the baker's son, Peeta, who once saved my life with a loaf of bread.

For the first time since entering the arena, I find myself completely consumed with the fear that I might never return to District Twelve. Until now I'd always had a cautious optimism that I could make it, but what if I can't? What if I never get to stroke Prim's hair after she has a nightmare again? What if I never get to spend the day hunting with Gale again, or eat Sae's wild dog stew? What if I never get to thank Peeta for saving my life that day?

Once I've recovered a little from the shock of the letters, managing to only shed a few tears and mostly maintain a calm façade, I look over to Rue. She is still engrossed in her messages from home. I wonder what they say, but I can't bring myself to ask.

Rue and I will have to split up soon. Gale's message, to remember what I'm fighting for has made me realise that we can't carry on this way. We're in the final four now and there can only be a few days left before the end now. I don't want to leave Rue to fend for herself in this hellish arena, but I also don't want it to come down to just the two of us. I know I wouldn't be able to kill her, especially now we've become friends, but I _have_ to return to district Twelve. I have to get back for Prim, my Mother, Gale and everyone else. For that to happen, Rue will have to die.

Rue looks up, probably sensing my eyes on her, and she seems to know what I'm thinking.

"We have to split up now, don't we?" she asks. I nod, not trusting my voice enough to speak aloud. After a few minutes of silence, she speaks again, her voice breaking, "Do you think, maybe, we could wait 'til morning? Just one more night?"

I nod again and offer her a weak smile. One more night wouldn't hurt. After the excitement of the feast and the death of the remaining careers, the Capitol viewers will be satisfied for a while – I think the Gamemakers will leave us alone tonight.

"Lets go back to our cave, just for tonight, and tomorrow we'll go our separate ways." I suggest. She agrees and we head off towards the cave, which is close to home as we can get in the arena.

Once we reach the cave, we look inside the packs marked _1 _and _2_, which were provided for the careers. Marvel's pack contains some kind of skintight body armour, which was far too big for me really but would still be useful, so I pull it on. It's surprisingly comfortable and lightweight and covers me from neck to ankle, leaving only my head and hands exposed. Clove's pack contained a smaller version of the same armour, which I give to Rue.

We get to the cave around midday and find a silver parachute there waiting, attached to a steaming pot of stew. The stew reminds me of the food which Greasy Sae usually concocts from whatever is available at the time; it's filling and delicious. While I loved the rich Capitol food, in particular the lamb stew, it is nice to eat something which reminds me of home. I also get the feeling that Haymitch is sending me a message by sending me this sponsor gift – that I'm doing the right thing by splitting up with Rue now.

After we polish of most of the stew between us, I take a wash in the river and inspect my injuries. The wound on my leg is almost entirely healed now. I'm surprised, because it was quite a serious injury and I certainly haven't been taking it easy over the past few days, but I'm thankful for small blessings. Perhaps those pills contained something to speed up the healing process, as well as prevent infection. I also have purplish bruises on my shoulders and ribs, from where Clove pinned me to the ground earlier. Overall I'm not too badly off, all things considered.

My worst injury is actually practically invisible from the outside: my deafness in one ear, which makes me very uneasy.

Having cleaned myself up quite nicely, I decide to practise a little with my new bow and arrows. I'm used to the old, wooden bow and arrows that my Father left me, whereas this bow is metal and feels quite different. It's actually rather surprising that I managed to hit Marvel with only my second arrow, considering I'd never used the bow before. I do some target practise on a big oak tree and am pleased with the results. With my last arrow, I even manage to shoot a squirrel, which I spotted sitting on one of the higher branches of the oak, and get it straight through the eye. It's good to know I haven't lost my touch.

I collect all the arrows and the squirrel carcas and walk the short distance back to the cave, where I find Rue still poring over her messages. I wonder how she can have spent so long looking at them – I have mine memorised already.

We had to leave in the middle of the night last night, in order to reach the Cornucopia by dawn. The lack of sleep, combined with the fight at the feast and receiving messages has left us both physically and mentally exhausted, so we cook and eat the squirrel, the rest of the stew and some nuts and turn in for an early night. Rue and I both decide to share the cave, sharing one sleeping bag, rather than one of us standing guard. She rests her head on my shoulder and I put my arm around her, glad for the closeness and comfort, which I know will be gone tomorrow.

_A/N: Kind of suffering from writers block. I'm not really happy with this chapter. Looking for inspiration if you have any comments or ideas?_

_In case you don't remember, the letters from the families are their responses to the question "If you could send a message to Katniss, what would it be?" from the interviews. I know this didn't happen in the book, but I liked the idea. _


	23. Chapter 23

_23: Day 14_

_Gale_

The Games have been going for two weeks now. Almost three weeks have passed since the Reaping and I wonder whether Katniss knows how long it has been, or whether days in the arena just blur into one never-ending nightmare.

Now that there are only four tributes remaining, school is cancelled and everyone seems sure that there will only be a few days until the end. Katniss knows this too, which is why she and Rue have decided that it's time for them to part ways.

Katniss is probably the strongest player in the Games now, at least on a par with Thresh. Rue is only twelve, after all, and Vivra has yet to actually kill or even injure anyone – she's got this far on survival alone, but that won't work for much longer. However, I can forsee some problems with the careers being gone.

During the feast, I think my heart stopped when Katniss turned her back to Thresh, who was standing there holding that blood-covered rock which he had already used to kill one girl. I could hardly believe it when Thresh spared her and ran the other way. I can only imagine it had something to do with Rue. Unfortunately, I know Katniss has a strong sense of fairness and, since Thresh spared her life, she now probably feels like she owes him something. I don't know if she could bring herself to kill him. I really hope that this doesn't hurt her chances, if and when she comes across him again.

Obviously, there is a similar problem with Rue. Aside from her age, I know that Katniss has another reason to be so attached to Rue: her resemblance to Prim. I'm almost certain that she wouldn't harm Rue, either. I think they really should have split up earlier to avoid this but what's done is done.

So, although she is one of the strongest contender, she will be reluctant to harm at least two of her three enemies, which is going to be a major problem.

When morning arrives, Katniss and Rue stay true to their word and go their separate ways. They both agree to leave the cave, so that neither will know where the other is. It must be a strange feeling, saying goodbye to someone who has to die in order for you to survive. Saying goodbye to someone you love but never want to see again, because it would mean having to kill them.

Their farewell is short, just a brief hug and a few whispered words, which even the Capitol's microphones can't catch. Katniss kisses Rue on the forehead and then turns and walks away, not looking back. Rue climbs the nearest tall tree and starts flying through the branches in the opposite direction. I can tell she is struggling to hold back tears.

Now that the final four have all gone their separate ways, most of the footage involves a split-screen, so you can see what's going on with all four of them at the same time. If something interesting happens to one of the tributes, they are then shown full-screen.

A few hours later, I'm still lying on the settee watching when there's a knock on the door. It's Peeta, which surprises me since he practically ignored me the last time I tried to speak to him. I invite him inside and he sits on the settee, looking rather uncomfortable. I wonder how different my house is, compared to his home in the town. I bet they don't have oil lamps and a fifty-year old settee.

"What's up?" I ask.

"I'm here to talk you out of doing something stupid" he replies, with more confidence than I think I've ever heard from him.

"Who says I'm going to do something stupid, merchant boy?" I say defensively. He looks hurt and I instantly feel bad, thinking how angry it would make me if he'd called me 'Seam boy'.

"Sorry," I apologise, "Look, I know what you're talking about. But do you really think it's okay for the Capitol to carry on murdering kids every year? Kids like Steffi."

He looks uncomfortable again, his previous confidence fading. "I don't think it's okay. I just don't think you getting yourself killed is going to help anything."

He sort of has a point. So far, my only ideas have been to pursuade a group of people to boycott the Games and refuse to watch or to make some kind of scene during the victory tour. Both of which, along with any of my other half-baked ideas, will probably end up in me and anyone else who takes part being... disposed of... by the Capitol.

"What do you suggest we do, then?" I ask, "You got a better idea?"

"Maybe. But I think we should at least wait until the Games are over. Once Katniss is back home, she can help us. She'll have contacts in the Capitol, money which could help us, and she'll be a Victor – they can get away with a lot more, I reckon."

"What if she doesn't come home?" I wonder, hating myself for even thinking it.

"She _is _coming home," he says, frowning, "but if she doesn't...well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

I'm not really convinced. This whole thing seems like a ploy to just stop me from doing anything. Once the Games are over, he'll say "just wait until the victory tour is over", then it'll be "just wait until after the Quarter Quell" and so on. However, right now, I do really want to concentrate on the Games, since there are only a few days left, so I reluctantly agree.

At that, we seem to come to an unconcious mutual decision to change the topic and start discussing the Games, instead. He asks me how I felt about them sending messages in to the tributes and, strangely, I find myself answering honestly – Peeta seems to have this charm which just makes you want to talk to him. I tell him that I wish I had given her a better message. I was so annoyed by the Capitol woman interviewing me, that I just wanted to get it over with. I could have given her a much better message than that, if I'd really thought about it. Then again, I didn't even know that the messages would be delivered to the tributes for real, otherwise I definitely would have thought of something better to say. Ah, hindsight.

From there, he ends up asking me about the interviews and why I was so angry at my being portrayed as a romantic interest for Katniss.

"I didn't want to Capitol to be part of that," I explain. It sounds silly and petty when I say it out loud, I suppose, but I wanted that part of my life and her life to be private. "Maybe the Capitol can make her go into the arena and fight in the Hunger Games, maybe they can force her to return every year to mentor other children, but they can't make her choose how to live or who to love."

I feel a bit stupid, telling Peeta that, but it's how I feel and I find it impossible to lie to him for some reason. However, this conversation lapses into an awkward silence when I mention love. After all, the reason I ever spoke to him in the first place was to warn him away from Katniss, because I thought he might steal her from me, because he loves her too. With all the drama of the Games and our gradually growing friendship, I had almost forgotten about that, but now it's back in full force.

"They can't make her choose who to love, but neither can you. What if she doesn't choose you?" he asks, looking rather apprehensive.

Somehow I manage to not get angry and shout at him, which is what I really want to do, and actually come up with a somewhat convincing answer. "Well, that would be... her choice. I would be fine; she'd still be my best friend," I say. Turns out I _can _lie to Peeta.

_Peeta_

Gale is clearly lying when he says he wouldn't mind if Katniss didn't love him back, but I'm so impressed that he didn't try to punch my face in that I decided to just smile and change the subject. I'm not sure what possessed me to ask that question in the first place, it just came out. It's wishful thinking on my part, really – of course she'd choose Gale.

I'm so relieved I managed to talk him out of doing something crazy – for now at least. Right now, anything he does could affect Katniss. She's completely at the mercy of the Capitol and it wouldn't take a second for them to send some horrific mutt after her in the arena as punishment for something Gale did. At least he agreed to wait until after the Games are over.

I realise we've been sitting here in silence for a while, so I'm wracking my brains trying to think of a new topic of conversation when a loud bang comes from the television set, which is still showing live footage of the Games. Gale and I both jump and stare at the television instantly at the noise, which sounds so much like a cannon.

Thankfully, it not a cannon but a roll of thunder, which is quickly followed by lightning and heavy rain. The thunder continues and the rain gets heavier and heavier until it is almost torrential, the skies turning black over the arena. The four corners of the split-screen show the remaining tributes each attempting to find shelter. Katniss continues along the stream which she had been following since leaving Rue but at a much faster pace, presumably looking for somewhere to take cover.

I notice, before she does apparently, that the water level of the stream is rising quickly. Much more quickly than it should be, even given the copious amounts of rain falling from the sky. She's so fixated on looking around that she doesn't even notice the water until it's up to her ankles.

"They won't flood the arena," Gale says, making me jump slightly – I wasn't expecting him to talk, he's not usually very talkative. When I don't reply, he elaborates further. "The last time they flooded it, that girl from Four only won because she could swim. The Capitol want to see fighting and kids stabbing each other, not boring deaths like drowning." he grumbles.

I nod in agreement – he's probably right – and turn my attention back to the screen.

The water continues to rise, quickly turning the stream into a fast-flowing river. After a while, Katniss stops following the river; she turns ninety degrees and runs away from the water instead. It's not long, however, before she comes to another wide river. The television shows us that it's actually one large river which splits into two, forming a small island, on which Katniss is standing. The water on all sides is too wide to jump across and I doubt even the strongest swimmer from district Four could handle the speed of the current.

These rivers are clearly controlled by the Gamemakers and at first I am confused about what they are trying to do. That is when I realise that Katniss is not the only tribute being shepherded by the rising water.

Vivra was quite far away from Katniss when the thunderstorm struck. A safe distance, at the time. Now the two of them are being forced to come closer and closer to one another. While Katniss stands on one end of the island, Vivra stands at the other end. They can't be more than a mile apart now and it's only a matter of time before one of them finds the other and they're forced into a battle.

By this time, Rue has found shelter under a rocky outcrop, while Thresh has seeminly given up looking for shelter – he's soaked through anyway – and is just sitting and waiting for the rain to stop. The split-screen changes from four screens to two, showing only Katniss and Vivra, since they are the most interesting tributes right now.

The water level of the rivers has stopped rising, it seems, but the rain continues and the rushing water shows no signs of slowing or receding. Evidently, they'll be stuck on that island until one or both of them does something interesting enough to appease the Capitol viewers.

_Vivra_

It seems as thought the water has stopped rising, which is a relief because I don't know how to swim and I definitely don't want to drown. Unfortunately, this probably means that they have thought of an even 'better' way for me to die – I expect this flooding was just a way of getting the tributes closer together so we'll have to fight each other.

From what I can see, I appear to be on an island surrounded by water, or at least a peninsula, since I can't see the other end. I would be prepared to bet that at least one other tribute is on this strip of land as well.

Best-case scenario: it's the young girl from Eleven. Obviously, I don't want to go up against anyone but at least I'd have a fighting chance against her.

Worst-case scenario: it's the guy from Eleven, the big one. I wouldn't stand a chance against him.

I won't know what to expect if it's the other girl, from Twelve. She never seemed that impressive in training, but she scored an eleven and she's made it this far, so she must be pretty smart. I don't even know whether she has a special skill with any particular weapon, or what she got in her pack at the feast.

I run through all my possible options in my mind.

Option one: I can sit here and just wait for the other tribute to find me.

Option two: I could try to escape this island somehow. Swimming across the water is definitely out, but I could try to make a bridge or a dam to get across.

Option three: I can go out and try to find the other tribute myself. This is obviously what the Gamemakers want me to do.

Option four: I can hide somewhere and hope that the other tribute doesn't find me.

I decide to go for the fourth option: hide. It might seem cowardly to those watching in the Capitol and I'm sure the Gamemakers won't be happy with me, but it's probably my best chance. If I hide, then I should see them before they see me. Once I know who I'm up against, I can formulate a plan of attack and give myself the best chance if it comes down to a fight.

I'm not a strong fighter, not even slightly. Being involved in the Games had never been part of my plan; I'd never even had to take out tesserae, so I thought I would be fairly safe from the Reaping. Obviously, I was wrong.

After I was chosen and we started training for the Games, I quickly realised that I had no measurable skill with any weapons, so I would have to rely on being stealthy and staying out of trouble, which has worked for me so far. I was able to take supplies from the careers' stash, even after they booby-trapped it – they never even realised I was watching them. After the supplies were partially destroyed, I had the opportunity to raid them and grab some more useful items for myself. I was even able to attend the feast without having to fight any tributes!

I knew I wouldn't be able to carry on that way indefinitely; they rarely have a victor who hasn't fought with at least one other tribute. I'm actually surprised they let me carry on this long without any interaction with anyone else – I suppose the other tributes must have provided enough action without me.

When I collected my pack from the feast and saw that it contained two knives, as well as the food I needed, I suspected that my luck was running out. Those knives weren't designed for cooking or cutting rope; they are for fighting. I think the Gamemakers were sending me a not-so-subtle hint that I better get into the action.

Once I'm certain that the water has stopped rising, I start looking for a place to conceal myself. Not far away I find a large fallen tree. The force of the tree falling has pulled it's roots from the ground, creating a kind of cavern, whose walls are made from the roots and the earth clinging to them. The rain, which is now starting to slow down, has churned up a lot of mud and I remember from one of the training stations that mud can be used for camouflage, so I spread some of it over my arms and on my face before climbing into the earthy hole. It's surprisingly cosy and the covering of roots has kept it relatively dry from the rain.

Now all I have to do is lie here and wait for someone to come by.

_A/N: First and foremost I want to apologise for the lateness of this chapter – I've had a few messages reminding me to update, so sorry it took so long! The weather here has been lovely but won't last, so I've been making the most of it. Also, it was my graduation this week so I was quite busy with that. Excuses, excuses! It is quite a long chapter, so I hope that makes up for it!_

_Secondly, a warning that the next update will probably take just as long. I'm going to Edinburgh next week, where I won't be able to write or update, so if I don't update by Tuesday, then it will be at least another week. Sorry about that, but real life comes first!_

_Thirdly, thanks to all of you who've reviewed, favourited or followed this story! I have 60 reviews for this story now, which is cool :) I hope you liked the guest POV of Vivra in this chapter. I'm not sure if my description of the root cave is particularly clear but if you search "fallen tree root cave" on google images, there are some pictures of that kind of thing. _


	24. Chapter 24

_Chapter 24: Day 14 (Part II)_

_Katniss_

As the rain begins to slow down, I take a deep breath and try to calm myself down. The suddenly rising water had made me panic; I can swim, but I'm not a strong swimmer. It seems as though the water has stopped rising, but it's also not receeding – it must be there for a reason.

Since I don't have many other options, I decide to follow the river, to scope out whether I am indeed trapped on an island, surrounded by water, or whether there is some escape.

I eat a quick meal of leftovers to regain some of the energy lost from running away from the water, string an arrow into my bow, and start walking alongside the river, keeping it on my left-hand side, so that my right ear – the one with hearing intact – can listen for anything in the forest which might be following me.

More than once I hear something move behind me and swung my bow around, ready to shoot someone, only to see that it was just a bird or a small animal moving in the undergrowth. I walk for a few hours without coming into contact with anyone, before realising that I have ended up back where I started. Clearly, this is an island, and I'm stuck here for now.

Although I didn't see or hear another tribute during my walk, I am almost certain that someone else is on this island with me. As a hunter, it's not in my nature to sit and wait for someone to find me, so I will have to set out and find them myself. From what I know of the geography of the arena, it is most likely to be Foxface who was nearest to me when the rain started – Rue had been heading in the opposite direction since we parted ways this morning, and the grassy plain where Thresh was last seen is nowhere near here.

I don't know what skills or weapons she has, but I have the advantage of the body armour, which we stole from the feast, as well as my bow and arrows. I also have night-vision glasses, which I picked up from the Cornucopia and could be very useful in this situation.

Weighing up my options, I decide to wait until nightfall before I head out to find Foxface, so that the goggles will give me a strong advantage. Meanwhile, I have a little more to eat and drink plenty of water – there is no shortage of water at the moment, what with the huge river raging just a few metres away.

_Vivra_

For hours I've been hiding in the cavern underneath the tree roots. I'm starting to shiver in my clothes, still damp from the earlier rainstorm, and the mud I used to camouflage myself is making my skin itchy. I debate whether I should find another place to hide. This place is uncomfortable, but if anyone came past, they would not be able to see me here, and that element of surprise would definitely give me the upper hand in a fight. Also, it's nearly nightfall, which will make finding a different hiding place more difficult. I decide to stay here until morning.

Once night falls, I eat a small amount of the food rations I received at the feast – strips of dried meat and some fruit, and drink some water. I have to leave the safety of my cavern for a for minutes to relieve myself but I return as quickly as possible, making sure that I rub out my footprints in the mud, so that nobody can find me. Almost as soon as I'm back under cover, the anthem plays – no faces appear in the sky tonight. Taking advantage of the darkness, which makes me even harder to find, I decide to sleep for a while.

_Katniss_

After dark, I scour the island for hours, trying to find some evidence of another person somewhere, but find nothing. I begin to doubt my assumption that there must be another tribute on the island – surely I would have seen some evidence by now. But why else would the Gamemakers leave me stranded here?

I am getting exhausted, having been on my feet all day and most of the night, so I decide to give up the search for now. Even if I did find someone, I'd be worse off in a fight it I was too tired. Finding a tall, sturdy tree with plenty of leaves to conceal me, I climb as high as I can and strap myself onto a thick branch, hoping that a few hours of sleep will clear my head.

When I wake up, there's a moment of intense panic because my vision is blurry and strange, before I realise that I'm still wearing the night-vision glasses from the night before. It is daylight now but, judging from the position of the sun in the sky, it is only just after dawn. I eat a small amount of food for breakfast and, after looking around to make sure nobody is nearby, climb down the tree.

Since I'm stuck here without a real destination to head to, I decide to walk back to the edge of the island and follow the water all the way around again – it gives me something to do, keeps me moving and, with the river on one side, would make it easier for me to hear and see another person if they came towards me.

I take the most direct route to the water's edge by climbing over a few fallen trees. I'm only a few minutes walk from the water, when I look down and see a strange indentation in the soft mud beneath my feet – it looks like part of a footprint, one which has been partially rubbed out by someone, or something. Tucking my bow under my arm, I kneel down to get a better look at the footprint. It has the same zig-zag tread as the bottom of my own boots, but is smaller. Certainly, this means that someone else is on this island and, judging by the size of the shoe print, I was right when I thought it was probably Foxface.

I am about to stand and search for more footprints when something whizzes over my head and lands in the mud a short distance away: a knife. In one smooth movement, I am on my feet with the bow in my hand, aimed in the direction of whoever threw the knife. I take a second to take in her appearance: thin, pale, drawn and covered in mud, before releasing the arrow directly at her head.

_Vivra_

I knew I shouldn't have thrown the knife. I've always had lousy aim – which is why I never even attempted the archery, spear or knife throwing stations at the training centre – but when I looked out of my cavern this morning to see another tribute kneeling on the ground, facing away from me, it just seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. Unfortunately, miss is exactly what I did.

I find myself face-to-face with the girl from District Twelve, who is pointing a bow and arrow right at me. A small part of me wonders whether archery was the skill which got her that eleven score in training, before a much larger part of me tells me to duck as an arrow comes flying at my head.

I manage to dodge the first arrow, but a second is reloaded in its place as quick as a flash. I can't run away, because turning around would definitely result in an arrow in my back, and I'm too far away to attack her with my knife right now. I can't keep dodging arrows forever, so my only option is to get closer to her: close enough that her arrows are ineffective and that I can reach her with my remaining knife.

Narrowly avoiding the second arrow she shoots at me, I sprint towards her. I try to dodge the third arrow but misjudge the direction; it pierces my left bicep but I continue running and, before she can notch a fourth arrow, I am upon her, attempting to wrench the weapon from her hands.

The mud, still slippery from yesterday's rain, causes both us to fall to the ground, me on top of her. She struggles and tries to roll us over, holding on to my right wrist to keep my knife away from her. While her attention is focussed on my right hand, I am able to use my left hand to pull the bow away from her and throw it a reasonable distance away, although this causes massive pain in my upper arm, from the arrow which is now lodged there.

Distracted by the pain, I accidentally give her the opportinuty to get the upper hand and she rolls us over so that she is on top, pinning me down. She digs her nails into my wrist and twists painfully, making me release my grip on the knife in my hand. Picking it up off the ground where I dropped it, she tries to bring the point of the knife towards my neck, while I hold her off, pushing back against her wrist with my left hand. Meanwhile, my right hand fumbles around as I try to find something to fend her off with: a rock, a stick, anything would do.

With her knife only inches from my neck, my hand finally lands on something hard in the soft earth. I can't believe my luck when glance over and see the handle of the knife I threw earlier, sticking out of the ground just in my reach.

Grabbing hold of the knife, I am overcome with renewed strength and waste no time in plunging it into the other girls side.

_Katniss_

I scream out loud at the sudden pain in my side. Looking down, I see that Foxface has somehow got hold of another knife – whether the one she threw earlier, or a third knife from elsewhere, I don't know. At least the knife hasn't entered my body, just bounced off the body armour I'm wearing. There is still pain, simply from the force of the knife hitting against it, but no serious injury. Nonetheless, I need to change tactics. My attempts to get the knife to her neck to kill her have been futile, as her arm seems incredibly strong and is holding me off rather well. Now that she has a weapon too, the slow incremental movements of my knife towards her are not enough – I need to end this quickly, before she works out that I'm wearing armour and stabs me somewhere unprotected.

Taking advantage of her momentary confusion at her knife simply bouncing off me, I change the direction of the knife in my hand - instead of pushing it further towards her, I pull it sharply to the right, slicing a deep cut along her arm and pulling my wrist from her grip. I risk a quick glance over my shoulder and locate my bow, lying a short distance away. Before she has a chance to react, I jump off of her and run to where it lies.

She tries to get up by pushing herself up with her hands, but is slowed down by the deep cut to her forearm and the arrow lodged in her upper arm. By the time she is standing, I have an arrow notched into the bow. When I let it fly, she once again tries to dodge, but is too slow this time. The arrow pierces her body, just to the left of her sternum and she falls to the ground again.

I can tell that she is still alive but, from the sound of her heavy, rasping breaths, I think I might have punctured her lung with my arrow. As she is unlikely to be a threat to me in her condition, I come closer and kneel down beside her. She looks at me and I see so many emotions in her eyes: anger, sadness, confusion, but mostly fear. She looks so young, she must be about 14 or 15 years old, and suddenly I don't see her as my competition, as a crafty and wily enemy, just as a young girl doing anything to survive, just like me.

Adrenaline makes my hands shake as I bring the point of my knife to the side of her neck – she doesn't even try to stop me this time – and pull it across her throat as quickly as possible. Blood pours out of the wound as the cannon sounds, almost instantaneously.

It's only after I move away from the body and the hovercraft takes her away, that I realise I never even knew her name.


	25. Chapter 25

_Chapter 25: Days 15 & 16_

_Katniss_

I spend the remainder of the day recuperating from my fight with Foxface. Although I was protected from the knife by my body armour, I wasn't protected from the force of the impact - underneath the armour, my side is blossomming into a big purple bruise. However, it's nothing compared to the injuries I've sustained throughout the Games so far – it's really nothing to worry about.

Now that there are only three of us left, I'm certain that the Gamemakers will be pushing us together anytime soon – probably tomorrow morning – so I take the opportunity to eat and drink as much as I can.

Gradually, the fast-flowing rivers surrounding the island start to recede. By dusk, they're reduced to merely shallow streams and I am able to get away. I decide to head towards the Cornucopia. I'm almost certain that the Gamemakers will try to get the remaining tributes to congregate there for the final battle, so I might as well get a headstart.

I try to come up with a plan of action for if I encounter one of the others. Up until this point, I have only been in a fight with someone who was an enemy or a stranger, and they were all trying to kill me. I can't fathom trying to fight with Thresh – who I barely know, but who showed me such mercy before – or Rue.

In my head, I try to reason with myself. I have to get home for Prim and my Mother. For that to happen, I have to be the last one standing. I can't afford to be sentimental over this, it just has to be done. However, the more I think about it, the less I'm convinced that I really would be able to kill either of them.

Night falls and I am still nowhere near the Cornucopia, so I decide to settle in for the night and preserve energy. By the time I've strapped myself into a suitable tree to sleep, the anthem is playing and Foxface's picture appears in the sky. I wonder whether this truly will be the last day of the Games. Will I still be alive this time tomorrow?

The next morning, I wake up around dawn and begin to head towards the Cornucopia, picking berries from a few bushes on the way, to keep me going. I take a slight detour to a pond I know is nearby, only to find it bare and dry. Further on, I cross a dry riverbed and realise that the Gamemakers have probably drained all the water in the arena, so as to draw us together at the one remaining water source: the lake.

Once I reach the Cornucopia I drag myself onto the top of it, giving myself the best vantage point, and ready my bow and arrow.

_Gale_

It's the sixteenth day of the Games and, by the looks of things, the last day. The Gamemakers have drained all the water in the arena, so that the three remaining tributes are encouraged to go to the lake and battle each other.

However, I can't envisage a situation where these three are actually going to battle each other. Katniss and Rue are friends; Thresh and Rue are district partners; Katniss and Thresh seem to have some kind of mutual respect for each other. I have no idea how this is going to go, I just hope that Katniss remembers what she's fighting for and doesn't let her emotions get the way.

It sounds harsh, to want the twelve-year-old Rue and the seemingly kind Thresh to be killed, but it is the only way that Katniss can survive. From the moment they were chosen to participate, they were destined to die, because nobody is going to survive this except her. I wouldn't even blame her for killing them – their blood is on the hands of the Capitol and the Capitol alone.

At the moment, the television screen is showing Thresh. He is headed in roughly the right direction: towards the edge of the wheat field, towards the Cornucopia where Katniss is waiting. However, he is obviously not headed their quickly enough, as becomes apparent when a huge wolf-like mutt jumps out of the plants behind him.

For a minute, man and beast stare at each other and for a minute I think that Thresh might try to take the mutt on in a fight, but then he turns and runs instead.

The mutt is fast, but not quite fast enough to catch up with Thresh. After about a minute of this, two more mutts seemingly appear out of nowhere and join in the chase. The announcer explains that the mutts are designed to look like fallen tributes and I realise, with disgust, that the first mutt chasing Thresh has blond hair and is larger than the other tributes – it must be supposed to look like Cato. The other two are smaller, one blonde and one dark haired: Glimmer and Clove. As if avoiding the careers once wasn't enough, the Gamemakers have sent their reincarnations after Thresh.

I don't know how long Thresh manages to outrun the mutts before he reaches the clearing which houses the Cornucopia. Having heard him approach, Katniss has already raised her bow and is aiming it in his direction. However, before she has time to shoot her first arrow, the mutts enter the clearing behind him and she is dumbstruck for a moment, her hands frozen on the weapon.

_Katniss_

Thresh runs towards the Cornucopia, closely followed by some kind of Capitol mutts: huge wolf-like beings with long claws and teeth. Fixated by them, I forget about my bow and arrow for a moment and simply stare at the oncoming monsters.

I don't know for how long he has been running, but judging by the sweat on his brow and his rasping, deep breaths, I assume it is a long time. He is about halfway across the clearing towards me when I remember the bow in my hand, and the reason why I am here. I raise the weapon and aim it at him but hesitate a second as I remember the mercy he showed me at the feast – can I really kill him?

Before I'm able to make a decision, Thresh looks up at me and I think the sight of me catches him off guard because he stumbles for a second and almost trips over. In the time it takes for him to regain his footing, the mutts are already upon him. From my high vantage point, I can see flashes of sharp claws and teeth, hear snarls and screams. It seems that Thresh is managing to hold off the mutts somewhat – perhaps he has a body armour similar to mine. Part of me wants to shoot at the mutts surrounding him, to save him, but a deep-down, dark part of my mind tells me that I have to let him die, if I am going to survive.

I watch in rapt fascination, unable to take my eyes off the fight between the boy and the mutts. Unable, that is, until I hear someone shouting my name.

"Katniss!" the breathless voice calls out from somewhere behind me. I recognise the voice, of course, as Rue's. Dragging my eyes away from Thresh for a moment, I turn and see Rue running across the other side of the clearing towards me, also pursued by three of the wolf-mutts. Although the mutts chasing her are smaller than those fighting with Thresh, they are still much larger than she is and just as dangerous.

That dark part of my mind tells me to shoot Rue as she comes towards me, to fire an arrow right through her eye – she wouldn't even know what had happened – and then it would all be over. For a split-second, I consider doing it, but I can't bring myself to go through with it. Instead, I call her name back.

"Rue! Get up here, I don't think they'll be able to climb it!" I shout, holding my hand over the side of the Cornucopia to reach her. Her small hand grasps mine and I start to pull her up onto the top of the Cornucopia. She doesn't weigh a lot, but it's hard to pull someone up with just one hand. Before I am able to get her up to safety, she screams in pain and I see one of the mutts embed it's sharp teeth into her leg.

I have no choice but to pull her up, causing the mutt's teeth to tear through the flesh of her leg, making the wound even worse. The beast lets go and I am able to pull Rue onto the top of the Cornucopia.

Thankfully, I was right to assume that the mutts were unable to climb the Cornucopia. The original three mutts were still engaged in battle with Thresh, but more have surrounded the Cornucopia and are taking it in turns to jump against the side of the golden horn and try to pull themselves up. I pull out my bow and arrow and start shooting at each mutt which comes towards me. On closer inspection, there is something strange about the mutts – each has a different colour of fur, ranging from dark and curly to straight and red, and they're all different sizes.

Having killed the first two mutts which approached, I miss the third – one of the smaller ones, with short dark fur – and it manages to jump up and cling on to the side of the Cornucopia, about three metres from the top, snarling at me. Now that it's closer, I realise what it is strange and unsettling about these mutts. The eyes don't look canine at all, they look intelligent; they look _human. _I feel as though I'm looking into my own eyes – Seam grey eyes like mine. Around it's neck is a collar with a "12" emblazoned on it. _Steffi._

The mutt, with Steffi's hair and eyes and the number 12, loses it's grip on the side of the Cornucopia and drops to the ground.

Surely, the mutts aren't the tributes? I look around the confirm my suspicions – there is a smaller mutt with amber eyes and red hair, just like Foxface, with the number 5 on it's collar. The largest in the pack has brown hair and a number 1 on the collar. The mutts each have the hair and eye colour of one of the fallen tributes – do they have their personalities and brains too?

Terrified and shocked by the throught, I pull back the string of my bow and kill the rest of the mutts around the Cornucopia. With only one mutt still standing - I just can't bring myself to kill the one which looks like Steffi, remembering how I was responsible for his death – I have only three arrows remaining and I turn my attention to Rue, who is lying on top of the Cornucopia, unable to stand on her wounded leg. I rip off my jacket and make a tourniquet for her leg, using one of my remaining arrows.

Thresh is still battling the three mutts while I killed off the rest. Rue and I sit together, listening to the sounds of the battle. I try to aim an arrow at him, to end it, but they're moving to fast and are too far away for me to aim accurately. After an indeterminable amount of time, he collapses with exhaustion and the mutts start to drag him towards the Cornucopia.

When they are only a few metres away, I pull out one of my two remaining arrows and aim it at Thresh. He looks up at me and gives a tiny nod of his head – he understands what I have to do.

"I'm sorry", I whisper, before firing the arrow. The cannon fires and there are only two remaining.

_Seneca Crane_

The young girl from Eleven lies on top of the Cornucopia, a tourniquet on her leg and tears rolling down her face. The girl from Twelve, Katniss, sits down next to her. The younger girl flinches when Katniss takes her hand.

"I'm not going to kill you, Rue," she says, "They can't make me."

"But there can only be one winner," Rue replies, her voice barely a whisper and choked with tears. Katniss nods but doesn't reply for a while. After a short time, she opens her backpack and takes out a small amount of food, which the two girls share.

"What the hell is this, Crane?!"

I take my eyes of the screen where my nightmare is currently unfolding and turn to President Snow, who has just burst into the control room.

"I... um... well..." I stutter

"They're just sitting there, not doing anything. How did you not see this coming?"

"Well... the viewers... they love to see Katniss as a killer. She's killed more people than anyone else in the Games and they _love _it. She's the favourite to win and I thought, if we pushed the three of them together that she would... you know... win."

"Clearly that's not happening!" the President exclaims, nodding his head towards the screen, where the two girls are still holding hands.

I let out an exasperated sigh. Since the feast, when she took down the last of the Career tributes, Katniss has been the a biggest favourite in the Capitol, so I was setting it up for her to win – sending the strongest mutts after Thresh, her biggest competition, and leaving her with just the little girl to get rid of. It seemed like a no-brainer: there was no way she could lose. And the Capitol would just love to see her turn on her previous ally.

Unfortunately, I hadn't banked on her refusing to kill the girl.

"If we wait long enough, the younger will die from her injuries." I suggest.

"That's not good enough, we can't wait that long. You'd better sort this out, Crane. Now!" the President says, "We can't have them showing us up like this, so get rid of one of them. I don't care which one, just get us a victor – and soon."

Before I can respond, he's already left. I know that my career as a Gamemaker – probably even my life – depends on the way I handle this. Ideally, I need to get one of them to kill the other – that's the rules of the Games, and it would diffuse the whole situation. Alternatively, I'll just have to send something after them to get rid of one of them – but which one?

_Gale_

This should be the end of it, Katniss should have won by now and be on her way back to District Twelve; back to me. A seriously injured twelve-year-old is all that stands in her way, but I know Katniss; I know there is no way she is going to hurt Rue.

I don't know what's going on and why the Gamemakers aren't doing anything about this. It's totally unprecedented for the last two tributes not to attack each other, let alone to share food and take care of each other. However, I do know that there is no way they will let there be two victors, so either Katniss or Rue are going to die – probably by the end of today.

I want to shout at the screen, tell Katniss that she's being ridiculous. Whatever happens, one of them is going to die. Wouldn't it be better for her to kill Rue now, rather than let her be mauled by a mutt or killed by some "natural" disaster sent by the Gamemakers?

Enraged and confused, I decide to head out to the town square. As it's nearing the end – really, should be the end by now – they're showing the Games live all day in the square. Recently, almost the whole town has been gathered there all day, watching, since this is the first time in three decades that a District Twelve tribute has got this far. Tonight is no different – if anything it's even busier here today than it has been lately – and the square is buzzing with chatter.

I pass groups of all ages, discussing what's going on.

"I can't believe they're just sitting there!"

"I wonder why the Gamemakers are letting them do that!?"

"The Capitol won't allow two victors... will they?"

All the questions I was asking myself, everyone else is asking too and nobody knows the answers.

About a minute after I reach the front of the crowd, I hear a familiar voice beside me.

"Guess you didn't need to do anything after all," Peeta says.

"What?" I ask

He looks up at me, "Katniss is doing it all for you. You wanted to take a stand, incite a rebellion? That's exactly what she's doing – standing up against the Capitol, refusing to play by their rules. And she's doing it on national television."

I look up at the screen and realise that he's right. What better way to show the Capitol that they don't own her? Unfortunately, this stunt can never end well for Katniss – the Capitol doesn't take too kindly to rebellion, in any form, and they're in the perfect position to get rid of her.

Then again, if they kill her now, she becomes a martyr, a symbol of rebellion, a memorable figure. If they let her go, they've given in to her. Now I understand why the Gamemakers haven't done anything yet – there's nothing they can do without making themselves look bad. It's perfect.

_A/N: Sorry for the delay. Long, looong delay! I tried to write this chapter loads of time and it never came out right - hopefully this version is alright. Thanks for reading :)_


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